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Room in Cleopatra's Palace 



i 



ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA 



DRAMATIS PERSONS 



friends to Antony. 



friends to Caesar. 



Mark Antony, 1 

OcTAVius C^SAR, \ triumvirs. 

M. tEmilius Lepidus, J 

Sextus Pomteius. 

DoMiTius Enobarbus, 

Ventidius, 

Eros, 

SCARUS, 

Dercetas, 

Demetrius, | 

Philo, J 

M^CENAS, 1 

Agrippa, 

dolabella, 

Proculeius, 

Thyreus, 

Gallus, 

Menas, 1 

Menecrates, \ friends to Pompey. 

Varrius, J 

Taurus, lieutenant-general to Caesar. 

Canidius, lieutenant-general to Antony. 

SiLius, an officer in Ventidius's army. 

EuPHRONius, an ambassador from Antony to Caesar. 

Alexas, 1 

Mardian, a Eunuch, I .^„„ j ^^ r^1„„.,„^„„ 

Seleucus, j- attendants on Cleopatra. 

DiOMEDES, J 

A Soothsayer. 

A Clown. 

Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. 

Octavia, sister to Caesar and wife to Antony. 

JJ^^g^^'^^' j attendants on Cleopatra. 

Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. 
Scene: /m several parts of the Roman empire. 




Atrium in Cesar's House 



ACT I 

Scene I. Alexandria, A Room in Cleopatra's Palace 

Enter Demetrius and Philo 

Philo. Nay, but this dotage of our general's 
O'erflows the measure. Those his goodly eyes, 
That o'er the files and musters of the war 
Have glow'd like plated Mars, now bend, now turn 
The office and devotion of their view 
Upon a tawny front ; his captain's heart. 
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst 

29 



30 Antony and Cleopatra [Act i 

The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper 
And is become the bellows and the fan 
To cool a gypsy's lust. — 

Flourish. Enter Antony, Cleopatra, her Ladies ^ the 
Train, with Eunuchs fanning her 

Look, where they come ! lo 
Take but good note, and you shall see in him 
The triple pillar of the world transform'd 
Into a strumpet's fool ; behold and see. 

Cleopatra. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. 
Antony. There 's beggary in the love that can be 

reckon'd. 
Cleopatra. I '11 set a bourn how far to be belov'd. 
Antony. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, 
new earth. 

Enter an Attendant 

Attendant. News, my good lord, from Rome. 

Antony. Grates me ; the sum. 

Cleopatra. Nay, hear them, Antony. 
Fulvia perchance is angry ; or, who knows 20 

If the scarce-bearded Caesar have not sent 
His powerful mandate to you, ' Do this, or this ; 
Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that ; 
Perform 't, or else we damn thee ' ? 

Antony. How, my love ! 

Cleopatra, l^erchance, — nay, and most like, — 
You must not stay here longer, your dismission 
Is come from Caesar ; therefore hear it, Antony. 



Scene I] Antony and Cleopatra 31 

Where 's Fulvia's process ? Caesar's, I would say ? both ? — 
Call in the messengers. — As I am Egypt's queen, 
Thou blushest, Antony, and that blood of thine 30 

Is Caesar's homager ; else so thy cheek pays shame 
When shrill-tongu'd Fulvia scolds. — The messengers ! 

Antony. Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch 
Of the rang'd empire fall ! Here is my space. 
Kingdoms are clay ; our dungy earth alike 
Feeds beast as man. The nobleness of life 
Is to do thus, when such a mutual pair \_Embracing. 

And such a twain can do 't, in which I bind, 
On pain of punishment, the world to weet 
We stand up peerless. 

Cleopatra. Excellent falsehood ! 40 

Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her ? — 
I '11 seem the fool I am not ; Antony 
Will be himself. 

Antony. But stirr'd by Cleopatra. — 

Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours, 
Let 's not confound the time with conference harsh j 
There 's not a minute of our lives should stretch 
Without some pleasure now. What sport to-night ? 

Cleopatra. Hear the ambassadors. 

Antony. Fie, wrangling queen ! 

Whom every thing becomes — to chide, to laugh, 
To weep ; whose every passion fully strives 50 

To make itself, in thee, fair and admir'd ! 
No messenger but thine ; and all alone 
To-night we '11 wander through the streets and note 



32 Antony and Cleopatra [Act I 

The qualities of people. Come, my queen ; 
Last night you did desire it. — Speak ~fiot to us. 

\Exeunt Antojty and Cleopatra with their train. 

Demetiiits. Is Caesar with Antonius priz'd so slight? 

Philo. Sir, sometimes, when he is not Antony, 
He comes too short of that great property 
Which still should go with Antony. 

Demetrius. I am full sorry 

That he approves the common liar, who 60 

Thus speaks of him at Rome ; but I will hope 
Of better deeds to-morrow. Rest you happy ! \_Exeunt. 



Scene II. The Same. Another Room 
Enter Charmian, .Iras, Alexas, and a Soothsayer 

Charmian\\uOrA Alexas, sweet Alexas, most any 
thing Alexas, athiost most absolute Alexas, where 's the 
soothsayer that you praised so to the queen? j O, that 
I knew this husband, which, you say, must <fharge his 
horns with garlands ! 

Alexas. Soothsayer ! 

Soothsayer. Your will? 

Chai-niian. Is this the man ? — Is 't you, sir, that know 
things ? 

Soothsayer. In nature's infinite book of secrecy 
A httle I can read. 

Alexas, Show him your hand. 10 



1 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra ^3 

Ente7' Enobarbus 

Enobarhus. Bring in the banquet quickly ; wine enough 
Cleopatra's health to drink. 

Charmian. Good sir, give me good fortune. 

Soothsayer. I make not, but foresee. 

Charmian, Pray, then, foresee me one. 

Soothsayer. You shall be yet far fairer than you are. 

Charmian. He means in flesh. 

Iras. No, you shall paint when you are old. 

Charmian. Wrinkles forbid ! 

Alexas. Vex not his prescience \ be attentive. 20 

Charmian. Hush ! 

Soothsayer. You shall be more beloving than belov'd. 

Charmian. I had rather neat my liver with drinking. 

Alexas. Nay, hear him. 

Charmiafi. Good now, some excellent fortune ! Let 
me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow 
them all ; let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod 
of Jewry may do homage ; find me to marry me with 
Octavius Caesar, and companion me with my mistress. 

Soothsayer. You shall outlive the lady whom you serve. 

Charmian. O excellent ! I love long life better than 
figs. - 31 

Soothsayer. You have seen and prov'd a fairer former 
fortune 
Than that which is to approach. 

Cha7'mian. Then belike my children shall have no 
names. 
Prithee, how many boys and wenches must I have? 

ANTONY — 3 . 



34 Antony and, Cleopatra [Act i 

Soothsayer. If fertile every wish, a million. 

Charmian. Out, fool ! I forgive thee for a witch. 

Alexas. You think none but your sheets are privy 
to your wishes. 

Charmian. Nay, come, tell Iras hers. 40 

Alexas. We '11 know all our fortunes. 

Enobarbus. Mine, and most of our fortunes, to-night, 
shall be — drunk to bed. 

Iras. There 's a palm presages chastity, if nothing 
else. 

Charmian. E'en as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth 
famine. 

Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothsay. 

Charmian. Nay, if an oily palm be not a fruitful 
prognostication, I cannot scratch mine ear. Prithee, 50 
tell her but a worky-day fortune. 

Soothsayer. Your fortunes are ahke. 

Iras. But how, but how? give me particulars. 

Soothsayer. I have said. 

Iras. Am I not an inch of fortune better than she ? 

Charmian. Well, if you were but an inch of fortune 
better than I, where would you choose it? 

Iras. Not in my husband's nose. 

Charmian. Our worser thoughts heavens mend ! 
Alexas, — come, his fortune, his fortune ! — O, let him 60 
marry a woman that cannot go, (sweet Isis, % beseech 
thee ! and let her die too, and give him a worse ! and 
let worse follow worse till the worst of all follow him 
laughing to his grave, fifty-fold a cuckold ! — Good 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 35 

Isis, hear me this prayer, though thou deny me a 
matter of more weight ; good Isis, I beseech thee ! 

Iras. Amen. Dear goddess, hear that prayer of 
the people ! for, as it is a heart-breaking to see a 
handsome man loose- wived, so it is a deadly sorrow 
to behold a foul knave uncuckolded ; therefore, dear 70 
Isis, keep decorum, and fortune him accordingly ! 

Charmian. Amen. 

Alexas. Lo, now, if it lay in their hands to make me 
a cuckold, they 'd do 't ! 

Enobarbus. Hush ! here comes Antony. 

Charmian, Not he \ the queen. 

Enter Cleopatra 

Cleopatra. Saw you my lord ? 

Enobarbus. No, lady. 

Cleopatra. Was he not here ? 

Charmian, No, madam. 

Cleopatra. He was dispos'd to mirth, but on the sudden 
A Roman thought hath struck him. — Enobarbus ! 

Enobarbus. Madam ? 80 

Cleopatra. Seek him, and bring him hither. — Where 's 
Alexas ? 

Alexas. Here, at your service. — My lord approaches. 

Cleopatra. We will not look upon him ; go with us. 

\_Exeunt. 
Enter Antony with a Messenger and Attendants 

Messenger. Fulvia thy wife first came into the field. 
Antony. Against my brother Lucius? 



36 Antony and Cleopatra [Act i 

Messenger. Ay ; 
But soon that war had end, and the time's state 
Made friends of them, jointing their force 'gainst Caesar, 
Whose better issue in the war, from Italy 89 

Upon the first encounter drave them. 

Antony. Well, what worst? 

Messenger. The nature of bad news infects the teller. 

Antony. When it concerns the fool or coward. — On ! 
Things that are past are done with me. — 'T is thus : 
Who tells me true, though in his tale lie death, 
I hear him as he flatter'd. 

Messenger. Labienus — . 

This is stiff news — hath, with his Parthian force, 
Extended Asia from Euphrates, 
His conquering banner shook from Syria 
To Lydia and to Ionia, 99 

Whilst — 

Antony. Antony, thou wouldst say, — 

Messenger. O, my lord ! 

Antony. Speak to me home, mince not the general 
tongue : 
Name Cleopatra as she is call'd in Rome ; 
Rail thou in Fulvia's phrase, and taunt my faults 
With such full license as both truth and malice 
Have power to utter. O, then we bring forth weeds 
When our quick minds lie still, and our ills told us 
Is as our earing ! Fare thee well awhile. 

Messenger. At your noble pleasure. \_Exit. 

Antony. From Sicyon, ho, the news ! Speak there ! 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 37 

1 Attendant. The man from Sicyon, — is there such 

an one? no 

2 Attendant, He stays upon your will. 

Antony. Let him appear. — 

These strong Egyptian fetters I must break, . 
Or lose myself in dotage. 

Enter another Messenger. 

What are you ? 

2 Messenger. Fulvia thy wife is dead. 

Antony. Where died she? 

Messenger. In Sicyon ; 
Her length of sickness, with what else more serious 
Importeth thee to know, this bears. \^Gives a letter. 

Antony. Forbear me. — 

\_Exit 2 Messenger. 
"There 's a great spirit gone ! Thus did I desire it. 
What our contempt doth often hurl from us, 
We wish it ours again ; the present pleasure, 120 

By revolution lowering, does become 
The opposite of itself. She 's good, being gone ; 
The hand could gluck her back that shov'd her on. 
I must from this ^nchanting queen break off; 
Ten thousand harms, more than the ills I know. 
My idleness doth hatch. — Ho ! Enobarbus ! 

Re-enter Enobarbus 

Enobarbus. What's your pleasure, sir? 
Antony. I must with haste from hence. 
Enobarbus. Why, then, we kill all our women. We 



38 Antony and Cleopatra [Act i 

see how mortal an unkindness is to them ; if they suffer 130 
our departure, death's the word. 

Antony. I must be gone. 

Enobarbus. Under a compelling occasion, let women 
die ; it were pity to cast them away for nothing, 
though, between them and a great cause, they should 
be esteemed nothing. Cleopatra, catching but the 
least noise of this, dies instantly ; I have seen her die 
twenty times upon far poorer moment. I do think 
there is mettle in death which commits some loving 
act upon her, she hath such a celerity in dying. . 140 

Antony. She is cunning past man's thought. 

Enobarbus. Alack, sir, no : her passions are made 
of nothing but the finest part of pure love. We cannot 
call her winds and waters sighs and tears ; they are 
greater storms and tempests than almanacs can report. 
This cannot be cunning in her ; if it be, she makes, a 
shower of rain as well as Jove. 

Antony. Would I had never seen her ! 

Enobarbus. O, sir, you had then left, unseen a 
wonderful piece of work, which not to have been blest 150 
withal would have discredited your travel. 

Antony. Fulvia is dead. 

Enobarbus. Sir? 

Antony. Fulvia is dead. 

Enobarbus. Fulvia ! 

Antony. Dead. 

Enobarbus. Why, sir, give the gods a thankful 
sacrifice. When it pleaseth their deities to take the 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 39 

wife of a man from him, it shows to man the tailors of 
the earth; comforting therein, that when old robes are 160 
worn out, there are members to make new. If there 
were no more women but Fulvia, then had you indeed 
a cut and the case to be lamented. This grief is 
crowned with consolation ; your old smock brings 
forth a new petticoat ; — and indeed the tears live in 
an onion that should water this sorrow. 

Antony. The business she hath broached in the 
state 
Cannot endure my absence. 

Enobarbus, And the business you have broached 
here cannot be without you ; especially that of Cleo- 
patra's, which wholly depends on your abode. 171 

Antony. No more light answers. Let our officers 
Have notice what we purpose. I shall break 
The cause of our expedience to the queen. 
And get her leave to part ; for not alone 
The death of Fulvia, with more urgent touches, 
Do strongly speak to us, but the letters too 
Of many our contriving friends in Rome 
Petition us at home. Sextus Pompeius 
Hath given the dare to Csesar and commands 180 

The empire of the sea ; our shppery people. 
Whose love is never link'd to the deserver 
Till his deserts are past, begin to throw 
Pompey the Great and all his dignities 
Upon his son, who, high in name and power. 
Higher than both in blood and life, stands up 



40 Antony and Cleopatra [Act i 

For the main soldier, whose quality, going on, 

The sides o' the world may danger. Much is breeding 

Which, like the courser's hair, hath yet but life. 

And not a serpent's poison. Say, our pleasure, 190 

To such whose place is under us, requires 

Our quick remove from hence. 

Enobarbus. I shall do 't. \_Exeunt. 

Scene III. The Same. Another Room 

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Alexas 

Cleopatra. Where is he? 

Charmian. I did not see him since. 

Cleopatra. See where he is, who 's with him, what he 
does ; 
I did not send you. — If you find him sad. 
Say I am dancing ; if in mirth, report 
That I am sudden sick. Quick, and return. 

\_Exit Alexas. 
Charmian. Madam, methinks, if you did love him 
dearly, 
You do not hold the method to enforce 
The like from him. 

Cleopatra. What should I do, I do not? 

Charmian. In each thing give him way, cross him in 

nothing. 
Cleopatra. Thou teachest hke a fool, — the way* to 
lose him. 10 



Scene III] Antony and Cleopatra 41 

Charmian. Tempt him not so too far ; I wish, for- 
bear. 
In time we hate that which we often fear. 
But here comes Antony. 

Enter Antony 

Cleopatra. I am sick and sullen. 

Antony. I am sorry to give breathing to my pur- 
pose, — / '' 
■ Cleopatra. Help me away, dear Charmian, I shall fall; 
It cannot be thus long, the sides of nature / 
Will not sustain it. s 

Antony. Now, my dearest queen, — ■ ' ** • 

Cleopatra. Pray you, stand farther from me. 

Antony. What 's the matter ? 

Cleopatra. I know, by that same eye, there 's some 
good news. 
What says the married woman ? — You may go ; — ^o" 
Would she haSniever given you leave to come ! 
Let her not say 't is I that keep you here ; 
I have no power upon you, hers you are. 

Antony. The gods best know — 

Cleopatra. O, never was there queen 

So mightily betray'd ! yet at the first 
I saw the treasons planted. 

Antony. Cleopatra, — - 

Cleopatra. Why should I think you can be mine and 
true, 



42 Antony and Cleopatra [Act i 

Though you in swearing shake the throned gods, 
Who have been false to Fulvia ? Riotous madness, 
To be entangled with those mouth-made vows 30 

Which break themselves in swearing,! 

Antony, "-*-==*' Most sweet queen, — 

Cleopatra. Nay, pray you, seek^ no colour for your 
going, 
But bid farewell and go. When you sued staying. 
Then was the time for words. No going then j 
Eternity was in our lips and eyes. 
Bliss in our brows' bent, none our parts so poor 
But was a race of heaven ; they are so still. 
Or thou, the greatest soldier of the world, 
Art turn'd the greatest liar. 

Antony. How now, lady ! 

Cleopatra. I would I had thy inches ; thou shouldst 
know 40 

There were a heart in Egypt. 

Antony. Hear me, queen. 

The strong necessity of time commands 
Our services awhile, but my full heart 
Remains in use with you. Our Italy 
Shines o'er with civil swords ; Sextus Pompeius 
Makes his approaches to the port of Rome. 
Equality of two domestic powers 

Breed scrupulous faction. The hated, grown to strength, 
Are newly grown to love ; the condemn'd Pompey, 
Rich in his father's honour, creeps apace 50 

Into the hearts of such as have not thriv'd 



Scene III] Antony and Cleopatra 43 

Upon the present state, whose numbers threaten ; 
And quietness, grown sick of rest, would purge 
By any desperate change. My more particular, 
And that which most with you should safe my going. 
Is Fulvia's death. 

Cleopatra. Though age from folly could not give me 
freedom. 
It does from childishness. — Can Fulvia die? 

Antony. She 's dead, my queen. „---**** 
Look here, and at thy sovereign leisure read 60 

The garboils she awak'd ; at the last, best, 
See when and where she died. 

Cleopatra. \0 most false love ! j 

Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill 
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see. 
In Fulvia's death, how mine receiv'd shall be. 

Anto7iy. Quarrel no more, but be prepar'd to know 
The purposes I bear, which are, or cease. 
As you shall give the advice. By the fire 
That quickens Nilus' slime, I go from hence 
Thy soldier, servant, making peace or war 70 

As thou affect'st. 

Cleopatra. Cut my lace, Charmian, come. — 

But let it be. — I am quickly ill, — and well. 
So Antony loves. 

Antony. My precious queen, forbear, " 

And give true evidence to his love, which stands 
An honourable trial. 

Cleopatra. So Fulvia told me. 



44 Antony and Cleopatra [Act I 

I prithee, turn aside and weep for her ; 
Then bid adieu to me, and say the tears 
Belong to Egypt. Good now, play one scene 
Of excellent dissembling, and let it look 
Like perfect honour. 

Antony. You '11 heat my blood ; no more. 80 

Cleopatra. You can do better yet ; but this is meetly. 

Antony. Now, by my sword, — 

Cleopatra. And target. — Still he mends. 

But this is not the best. — Look, prithee, Charmian, 
How this Herculean Roman does become 
The carriage of his chafe. 

Antony. I '11 leave you, lad v. 

Cleopatra. (^Courteous lord,' one word. 

Sir, you and I must part, — but that 's not it^*' 
Sir, you and I have lov'd, — but there 's not it ; 
That you know well ; something it is I would, — ■ 
O, ray oblivion is a very Antony, 90 

And I am all forgotten. 

Antony. But that your royalty 

Holds idleness your subject, I should take you 
For idleness itself. 

Cleopatra. 'T is sweating labour 

To bear such idleness so near the heart 
As Cleopatra this. But, sir, forgive me. 
Since my becomings kill me when they do not 
Eye well to you. Your honour calls you hence ; 
Therefore be deaf to my unpitied folly, 
And all the gods go with you ! Upon your sword 



Scene IV] Antony and Cleopatra 45 

Sit laurel victory ! and smooth success 100 

Be strevv'd before your feet ! 

Antony. Let us go. Come -, 

Our separation so abides and flies, 
That thou, residing here, go'st yet with me. 
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee. 
Away ! \_Exeunt. 

Scene IV. Rome. Ccesar's House 

Enter Octavius C^sar, reading a letter, Lepidus, and 

their Train 

JHcesar. You may see, Lepidus, and henceforth know, 
It is not Caesar's natural vice to hate 
Our great competitor. From Alexandria 
This is the news : he fishes, drinks, and wastes 
The lamps of night in revel ; is not more manlike 
Than Cleopatra, nor the queen of Ptolemy 
More womanly than he ; hardly gave audience, or 
Vouchsaf d to think he had partners. You shall find there 
A man who is the abstract of all faults 
That all men follow. 

Lepidus. I must not think there are ic 

Evils enow to darken all his goodness. 
His faults in him seem as the spots of heaven, 
More fiery by night's blackness, hereditary 
Rather than purchas'd, what he cannot change 
Than what he chooses. 

CcBsar. You are too indulgent. Let us grant it is not 



46 Antony and Cleopatra [Act i 

Amiss to tumble on the bed of Ptolemy, 

To give a kingdom for a mirth, to sit 

And keep the turn of tippling with a slave, 

To reel the streets at noon and stand the buffet 20 

With knaves that smell of sweat; say this becomes 

him, — 
As his composure must be rare indeed 
Whom these things cannot blemish, — yet must Antony 
No way excuse his soils, when we do bear 
So great weight in his lightness. If he fill'd 
His vacancy with his voluptuousness. 
Full surfeits and the dryness of his bones 
Call on him for 't ; but to confound such time 
That drums him from his sport, and speaks as loud 
As his own state and ours, — 't is to be chid 30 

As we rate boys, who, being mature in knowledge. 
Pawn their experience to their present pleasure 
And so rebel to judgment. 

Enter a Messenger 

Lepidus, Here 's more news. 

Messenger. Thy biddings have been done ; and every 
hour, 
Most noble Caesar, Ishalt thou have report 
How 't is abroad. ^ Pompey is strong at sea, 
And it appears he is belov'd of those 
That only have fear'd Caesar ; to the ports 
The discontents repair, and men's reports 
Give him much wrong'd. 



A 



Scene IV] Antony and Cleopatra 47 

Ccesar, I should have known no less. 40 

It hath been taught us from the primal state 
That he which is was wish'd until he were ; 
And the ebb'd man, ne'er lov'd till ne'er worth love, 
Comes dear'd by being lack'd. This common body, 
Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream. 
Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide, 
To rot itself with motion. 

Messenger. Caesar, I bring thee word, 

Menecrates and Menas, famous pirates. 
Make the sea serve them, which they ear and wound 
With keels of every kind ; many hot inroads 50 

They make in Italy ; the borders maritime 
Lack blood to think on 't, and flush youth revolt. 
No vessel can peep forth but 't is as soon 
Taken as seen, for Pompey's name strikes more 
Than could his war resisted. 

Ccesar. Antony, 

Leave thy lascivious wassails. When thou once 
Wast beaten from Modena where thou slew'st 
Hirtius and Pansa, consuls, at thy heel 
Did famine follow, whom thou fought'st against. 
Though daintily brought up, with patience more 60 

Than savages could suffer. Thou didst drink 
The stale of horses and the gilded puddle 
Which beasts would cough at ; thy palate then did deign 
The roughest berry on the rudest hedge ; 
Yea, like the stag, when snow the pasture sheets, 
The barks of trees thou browsedst ; on the Alps 



48 Antony and Cleopatra FAct i 

It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh, 

Which some did die to look on ; and all this — 

It wounds thine honour that I speak it now — 

Was borne so like a soldier that thy cheek 70 

So much as lank'd not. 

Lepidus. 'T is pity of him. 

Ccesar. Let his shames quickly 
Drive him to Rome. 'T is time we twain 
Did show ourselves i' the field, and to that end 
Assemble we immediate council ; Pompey 
Thrives in our idleness. 

Lepidus. To-morrow, Caesar, 

I shall be furnish'd to inform you rightly 
Both what by sea and land I can be able 
To front this present time. 

Ccesar. Till which encounter, 

It is my business too. Farewell. 80 

Lepidus. Farewell, my lord. What you shall know 
meantime 
Of stirs abroad, I shall beseech you, sir, 
To let me be partaker. 

Ccesar. Doubt not, sir ; 

I knew it for my bond. \^Exeunt. 

Scene V. Alexandria. Cleopatra'' s Palace 

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian 

Cleopatra. Charmian ! 
Charmian. Madam ? 



Scene V] Antony and Cleopatra 49 

Cleopatra. Ha, ha ! — 
Give me to drink mandragora. 

Chantiian, Why, madam? 

Cleopatra. That I might sleep out this great gap of 
time 
My Antony is away. 

Charmian, You think of him too much. 

Cleopat7'a. O, 't is treason ! 

Charmian. Madam, I trust, not so. 

Cleopatra. Thou, eunuch Mardian ! 

Mardiaji. What 's your highness' pleasure ? 

Cleopatra. Not now to hear thee sing. — O Charmian, 
Where think'st thou he is now? Stands he, or sits 
he? 10 

Or does he walk? or is he on his horse? 
O happy horse, to bear the weight of Antony ! mmmmm 
Do bravely, horse ! for wot'st thou whom thou mov'st? 
The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm 
And burgonet of men. — He 's speaking now. 
Or murmuring * Where 's my serpent of old Nile ? \ 
For so he calls in&7 now I feed myself / 

With most delicious poison. — Think on me, 
That am with Phoebus' amorous pinches black 
And wrinkled deep in time? Broad-fronted Caesar, 
When thou wast here above the ground, I was 
A morsel for a monarch ; and great Pompey 
Would stand and make his eyes grow in my brow ; 
There would he anchor his aspect and die 
With looking on his life. 

ANTONY — 4 



jO Antony and Cleopatra [Act I 

Enter Alex as 

f ■ ■ 

Alexas. \ Sovereign of Egypt, hail ! 

Cleopatra. How much linhke art thou Mark Antony ! 
Yet, coming from him, that great medicine hath 
With his tinct gilded thee. — \ 

How goes it with my brave Mark Antony? - " 

Alexas. Last thing he did, dear queen, 30 

He kiss'd — the last of many doubled kisses — 
This orient pearl. His speech sticks in my heart. 

Cleopatra. Mine ear must pluck it thence. 

Alexas. • ^ Good friend,' quoth he, \ 

' Say, the firm Roman to great Egypt sends ^ 

This treasure of an oyster, at whose foot, 
To mend the petty present, I will piece 
Her opulent throne with kingdoms ; all the east, 
Say thou, shall call her mistress.' So he nodded, 
And soberly did mount an arm-gaunt steed. 
Who neigh' d so high that what I would have spoke 40 
Was beastly dumb'd by him. 

Cleopatra. What, was he sad or merry ? 

Alexas. Like to the time o' the year between the ex- 
tremes 
Of hot and cold, he was nor sad nor merry. 

Cleopatra. O welLdivided disposition ! Note him, 
Note him, good Charmian, 't is the man, but note him : 
He was not sad, for he would shine on those 
That make their looks by his ; he was not merry. 
Which seem'd to tell them his remembrance lay 




Scene V] Antony and Cleopatra 51 

In Egypt with his joy, but between both. 

heavenly mingle ! — Be'st thou sad or merry, 50 
The violence of either thee becomes. 

So does it no man else. — Met'st thou my posts ? 

Alexas. Ay, madam, twenty several messengers. 
Why do you send so thick ? 

Cleopatra. Who 's born that day 

When I forget to send to Antony, 
Shall die a beggar. — Ink and paper, Charmian. — 
Welcome, my good Alexas. — Did I, Charmian, 
Ever love Caesar so ? 

Charmian. O that brave Caesar ! 

Cleopatra. Be chok'd with such another emphasis ! 
*Say, the brave Antony. 
^ Charmian. The valiant Caesar ! 60 

Cleopatra. By Isis, I will give thee bloody teeth. 
If thou with Caesar paragon again 
My man of men. 

Charmian. By your most gracious pardon, 

1 sing but after you. 

Cleopatra. My salad days, . 

When I was green in judgment, — cold in blood, 

To say as I said then ! — But, come, away ; 

Get me ink and paper. 

He shall have every day a several greeting, 

Or I '11 unpeople Egypt. {^Exeunt. 




Cleopatra's Barge 



ACT II 

Scene I. Messina. Pompefs House 
En^erFoMPEY, Menecrates, and Menas, /;? war/ike manner 

Pompey. If the great gods be just, they shall assist 
The deeds of justest men. 

Menecrates. Know, worthy Pompey, 

That what they do delay they not deny. 

Pompey. Whiles we are suitors to their throne, decays 
The thing we sue for. 

Menecrates. We, ignorant of ourselves, 

Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers 
Deny us for our good ; so find we profit 
By losing of our prayers. 

52 



Scene I] Antony and Cleopatra ^;^ 

Pompey. I shall do well. 

The people love me, and the sea is mine; 
My powers are crescent, and my auguring hope lo 

Says it will come to the full. Mark Antony 
In Egypt sits at dinner, and will make 
No wars without doors ; Caesar gets money where 
He loses hearts ; Lepidus flatters both, 
Of both is flatter'd, but he neither loves, 
Nor either cares for him. 

Menas. Caesar and Lepidus 

Are in the field ; a mighty strength they carry. 

Pompey. Where have you this? 'tis false. 

Menas. From Silvius, sir. 

Pompey. He dreams ; I know they are in Rome to- 
gether, 
Looking for Antony. But all the charms of love, 2c 

Salt Cleopatra, soften thy wan'd Hp ! 
Let witchcraft join with beauty, lust with both ! 
Tie up the libertine in a field of feasts. 
Keep his brain fuming ! Epicurean cooks '— ^ 
Sharpen with cloyless sauce his appetite. 
That sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour 
Even till a Lethe'd dulness ! — 

Enter Varrius 

How now, Varrius ! 

Varrius. This is most certain that I shall deliver : 
Mark Antony is every hour in Rome 
Expected ; since he went from Egypt 't is 30 

A space for further travel. 



54 Antony and Cleopatra [Act II 

Pompey. I could have given less matter 

A better ear. — Menas, I did not think 
This amorous surfeiter would have donn'd his helm 
For such a petty war ; his soldiership 
Is twice the other twain. But let us rear 
The higher our opinion, that our stirring 
Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck 
The ne'er-lust-wearied Antony. 

Menas. I cannot hope 

Caesar and Antony shall well greet together. 
His wife that's dead did trespasses to Caesar; 40 

His brother warr'd upon him, although, I think, 
Not mov'd by Antony. 

Pompey. I know not, Menas, 

How lesser enmities may give way to greater. 
Were 't not that we stand up against them all, 
'T were pregnant they should square between themselves. 
For they have entertained cause enough 
To draw their swords ; but how the fear of us 
May cement their divisions and bind up 
The petty difference we yet not know. 
Be 't as our gods will have 't ! It only stands 50 

Our lives upon to use our strongest hands. 
Come, Menas. ^Exeunt. 

Scene II. Rome. The House of Lepidus 

Enter Enobarbus and Lepidus 

Lepidus. Good Enobarbus, 't is a worthy deed. 
And shall become you well, to entreat your captain 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 55 

To soft and gentle speech. 

Enobarbus. I shall entreat him 

To answer like himself; if Caesar move him, 
Let Antony look over Caesar's head 
And speak as loud as Mars. By Jupiter, 
Were I the wearer of Antonius' beard, 
I would not shave 't to-day. 

Lepidus, 'T is not a time 

For private stomaching. 

Enobarbus, Every time 

Serves for the matter that is then born in 't. 

Lepidus. But small to greater matters must give way. 

Enobarbus. Not if the small come first. 

Lepidus. Your speech is passion ; 

But, pray you, stir no embers up. Here comes 
The noble Antony. 

Enter Antony and Ventidius 

Enobarbus. And yonder, Caesar. 

Enter C^sar, M^cenas, and Agrippa 

Antony. If we compose well here, to Parthia j 
Hark, Ventidius. 

Ccesar. I do not know, 

Maecenas ; ask Agrippa. 

Lepidus. Noble friends, 

That which combin'd us was most great, and let not 
A leaner action rend us. What 's amiss. 
May it be gently heard ; when we debate 20 

Our trivial difference loud, we do commit 



^6 Antony and Cleopatra [Act ii 

Murther in healing wounds. Then, noble partners, 
The rather for I earnestly beseech, 
Touch you the sourest points with sweetest terms, 
Nor curstness grow to the matter. 

Antony, 'T is spoken well. 

Were we before our armies, and to fight, 
I should do thus. \_Flo2i7ish. 

Ccesar. Welcome to Rome. 

Antony. Thank you. 

Ccesar. Sit. 

Antony. Sit, sir. 

Ccesar. Nay, then — 

Antony. I learn, you take things ill which are not so. 
Or, being, concern you not. 

Ccesar. I must be laugh'd at, 30 

If, or for nothing or a little, I 
Should say myself offended, and with you 
Chiefly i' the world ; more laugh'd at, that I should 
Once name you derogately when to sound your name 
It not concern'd me. 

Antony. My being in Egypt, Caesar, 

What was 't to you ? 

Ccesar. No more than my residing here at Rome 
Might be to you in Egypt ; yet, if you there 
Did practise on my state, your being in Egypt 
Might be my question. 

Antony. How intend you, practis'd ? 40 

Ccesar. You may be pleas'd to catch at mine intent 
By what did here befall me. Your wife and brother 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 57 

Made wars upon me ; and their contestation 
Was theme for you, you were the word of war. 

Antony. You do mistake your business; my brother 
never 
Did urge me in his act. I did inquire it, 
And have my learning from some true reports 
That drew their swords with you. Did he not rather 
Discredit my authority with yours, 

And make the wars ahke against my stomach, 50 

Having ahke your cause? Of this my letters 
Before did satisfy you. If you '11 patch a quarrel, 
As matter whole you have not to make it with, 
It must not be with this. 

Ccesar. You praise yourself 

By laying defects of judgment to me, but 
You patch'd up your excuses. 

Antony. Not so, not so ; 

I know you could not lack, I am certain on 't, 
Very necessity of this thought, that I, 
Your partner in the cause 'gainst which he fought, 
Could not with graceful eyes attend those wars 60 

Which fronted mine own peace. As for my wife, 
I would you had her spirit in such another ; 
The third o' the world is yours, which with a snaffle 
You may pace easy, but not such a wife. 

Enobarbus. Would we had all such wives, that the 
men might go to wars with the women ! 

Antony. So much uncurbable, her garboils, Caesar, 
Made out of her impatience, which not wanted 



58 Antony and Cleopatra [Act 11 

Shrewdness of policy too, I grieving grant 

Did you too much disquiet ; for that, you must 70 

But say I could not help it. 

Ccesar. I wrote to you 

When rioting in Alexandria ; you 
Did pocket up my letters, and with taunts 
Did gibe my missive out of audience. 

Antony. Sir, 

He fell upon me ere admitted ; then 
Three kings I had newly feasted and did want 
Of what I was i' the morning, but next day 
I told him of myself, which was as much 
As to have ask'd him pardon. Let this fellow 
Be nothing of our strife ; if we contend, 80 

Out of our question wipe him. 

CcEsar. You have broken 

The article of your oath, which you shall never 
Have tongue to charge me with. 

Lepidus. Soft, Caesar ! 

Antony. No, 

Lepidus, let him speak; 
The honour is sacred which he talks on now, 
Supposing that I lack'd it. — But, on, Caesar ; 
The article of my oath. 

Ccesar. To lend me arms and aid when I requir'd them. 
The which you both denied. 

Antony. Neglected rather. 

And then when poison'd hours had bound me up 90 

From mine own knowledge. As nearly as I may, 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 59 

I '11 play the penitent to you ; but mine honesty 
Shall not make poor my greatness, nor my power 
Work without it. Truth is, that Fulvia, 
To have me out of Egypt, made wars here, 
For which myself, the ignorant motive, do 
So far ask pardon as befits mine honour 
To stoop in such a case. 

Lepidus. 'T is noble spoken. 

Mcecenas. If it might please you, to enforce no further 
The griefs between ye ; to forget them quite 100 

Were to remember that the present need 
Speaks to atone you. 

Lepidus. Worthily spoken, Maecenas. 

Enobarbus. Or, if you borrow one another's love 
for the instant, you may, when you hear no more words 
of Pompey, return it again ; you shall have time to 
wrangle in when you have nothing else to do. 

Antony. Thou art a soldier only ; speak no more. 

Enobarbus. That truth should be silent I had almost 
forgot. 

Antony. You wrong this presence ; therefore speak no 
more. no 

Enobarbus. Go to, then ; your considerate stone. 

Ccesar. I do not much dislike the matter, but 
The manner of his speech ; for 't cannot be 
We shall remain in friendship, our conditions 
So differing in their acts. Yet, if I knew 
What hoop should hold us stanch, from edge to edge 
O' the world I would pursue it. 



6o Antony and Cleopatra [Act ii 

Agrippa. Give me leave, Caesar, — 

Ccesar. Speak, Agrippa. 

Agrippa. Thou hast a sister by the mother's side, 
Admir'd Octavia ; great Mark Antony 120 

Is now a widower. 

CcEsar. Say not so, Agrippa j 

If Cleopatra heard you, your reproof 
Were well deserv'd of rashness. 

Antony. I am not married, Caesar ; let me hear 
Agrippa further speak. 

Agrippa. To hold you in perpetual amity, 
To make you brothers, and to knit your hearts 
With an unslipping knot, take Antony 
Octavia to his wife, whose beauty claims 
No worse a husband than the best of men, 130 

Whose virtue and whose general graces speak 
That which none else can utter. By this marriage, 
All little jealousies which now seem great, 
And all great fears which now import their dangers. 
Would then be nothing ; truths would be tales 
Where now half tales be truths ; her love to both 
Would each to other and all loves to both 
Draw after her. Pardon what I have spoke, 
For 't is a studied, not a present thought. 
By duty ruminated. 

Antony. Will Caesar speak ? 140 

Ccesar. Not till he hears how Antony is touch 'd 
With what is spoke already. 

Antony, What power is in Agrippa, 




Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 6i 

If I would say, ' Agrippa, be it so/ 
To make this good ? 

CcBsar. Tlie power of C^sar, and 

His power unto Octavia. 

Antony. May I never 

To this good purpose that so fairly shows 
Dream of impediment ! — Let me have thy hand; 
Further this act of grace, and from this hour 
The heart of brothers govern in our loves 
And sway our great designs ! 

Ccssar. There is my hand. 150 

A sister I bequeath you whom no brother 
Did ever love so dearly ; let her live 
To join our kingdoms and our hearts, and never 
Fly off our loves again ! 

Lepidus. Happily, amen ! 

Antony. I did not think to draw my sword 'gainst Pompey, 
For he hath laid strange courtesies and great 
Of late upon me. I must thank him only, 
Lest my remembrance suffer ill report, 
At heel of that defy him. 

Lepidus. Time calls upon 's ; 

Of us must Pompey presently be sought, 160 

Or else he seeks out us. 

Antony. Where lies he? 

Ccesar. iVbout the Mount Misenum. 

Antony. What is his strength by land ? 

C(zsar. Great and increasing ; but by sea 
He is an absolute master. 



62 Antony and Cleopatra [Act il 

Antony. So is the fame. 

Would we had spoke together ! Haste we for it j 
Yet, ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we 
The business we have talk'd of. 

Ccesar. With most gladness, 

And do invite you to my sister's view. 
Whither straight I 'II lead you. 

Antony. Let us, Lepidus, 

Not lack your company. 

Lepidus. Noble Antony, 

Not sickness should detain me. 

\_Flourish. Exeunt Ccesar, Antony , and Lepidus. 

Mcecenas. Welcome from Egypt, sir. 

Enobarbus. Half the heart of Caesar, worthy Maece- 
nas ! — My honourable friend, Agrippa ! 

Agrippa. Good Enobarbus ! 

Maecenas. We have cause to be glad that matters 
are so well digested. You stay'd well by 't in Egypt. 

Enobarbus. Ay sir ; we did sleep day out of coun- 
tenance, and made the night light with drinking. i8o 

M(Bcenas. Eight wild boars roasted whole at a 
breakfast, and but twelve persons there ; is this true ? 

Enobarbus. This was but as a fly by an eagle ; we 
had much more monstrous matter of feast, which 
worthily deserved noting. 

Mcecenas. She 's a most triumphant lady, if report 
be square to her. «-.— 

Enobarbus. When she first met Mark Antony, she 
pursed up his heart, upon the river of Cydnus. 




Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 63 

Agrippa, There she appeared indeed, or my re- 
porter devised well for her. 191 

Enobarbus. I will tell you. 
The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, 
Burn'd on the water ; the poop was beaten gold ; 
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that 
The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were 

silver. 
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made 
The water which they beat to follow faster. 
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, 
It beggar'd all description : she did lie 200 

In her pavilion — cloth-of-gold of tissue — 
O'erpicturing that Venus where we see 
The fancy outwork nature ; on each side her 
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, 
With divers-colour'd fans, whose wind did seem 
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, 
And what they undid did. 

Agrippa. O, rare for Antony ! 

Efiobarbus. Her gentlewomen, hke the Nereides, 
So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes. 
And made their bends adornings ; at the helm 210 

A seeming mermaid steers ; the silken tackle 
Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands 
That yarely frame the office. From the barge 
A strange invisible perfume hits the sense 
Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast 
Her people out upon her, and Antony, 



64 Antony and Cleopatra [Act n 

Enthron'd i' the market-place, did sit alone, 
Whistling to the air, which, but for vacancy, 
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too 
And made a gap in nature. 

Agrippa. Rare Egyptian ! 220 

Enobarbus. Upon her landing, Antony sent to her. 
Invited her to supper; she replied, 
It should be better he became her guest, 
Which she entreated. Our courteous Antony, 
Whom ne'er the word of ' No ' woman heard speak, 
Being barber'd ten times o'er, goes to the feast, 
And for his ordinary pays his heart 
For what his eyes eat only. 

Agrippa. Royal wench ! 

She made great Csesar lay his sword to bed. 

Enobarbus. I saw her once 230 

Hop forty paces through the public street ; 
And having lost her breath, she spoke, and panted. 
That she did make defect perfection. 
And, breathless, power breathe forth. 

McBcenas. Now Antony must leave her utterly. 

Enobarbus. Never; he will not. 
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 
Her infinite variety. Other vi^omen cloy 
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry 
Where most she satisfies ; for vilest things 240 

Become themselves in her, that the holy priests 
Bless her when she is riggish. 

McEcenas. If beauty, wisdom, modesty, can settle 



Scene III] Antony and Cleopatra 6^ 

The heart of Antony, Octavia is 
A blessed lottery to him. 

Agrippa. Let us go. — 

Good Enobarbus, make yourself my guest 
Whilst you abide here. 

Enobarbus. Humbly, sir, I thank you. 

\_Exeunt. 

Scene III. The Same. Ccesar^s House 

Enter Antony, Cesar, Octavia between theni^ and 
Attendants 

Antony. The world and my great office will sometimes 
Divide me from your bosom. 

Octavia. All which time 

Before the gods my knee shall bow my prayers 
To them for you. 

• Antony. Good night, sir. — My Octavia, 

Read not my blemishes in the world's report ; 
I have not kept my square, but that to come 
Shall all be done by the rule. Good night, dear lady. — 
Good night, sir. 

CcBsar. Good night. \_Exeunt Ccesar and Octavia. 

Enter Soothsayer 

Antony. Now ! sirrah ; you do wish yourself in Egypt? lo 
Soothsayer. Would I had never come from thence, 
nor you thither ! 

Antony. If you can, your reason? 

ANTONY — 5 



66 Antony and Cleopatra [Act ll 

Soothsayer. I see it in my motion, have it not in 
my tongue ; but yet hie you to Egypt again. 

Antony. Say to me, whose fortunes shall rise higher, 
Caesar's or mine? 

Soothsayer. Caesar's. 
Therefore, O Antony, stay not by his side. 
Thy demon, that thy spirit which keeps thee, is 20 

Noble, courageous, high, unmatchable, -—***' 
Where Caesar's is not ; but near him thy angel 
Becomes a fear, as being o'erpower'd. Therefore 
Make space enough between you. 

Antony. Speak this no more. 

Soothsayer. To none but thee ; no more but when to 
thee. 
If thou dost play with him at any game, 
Thou art sure to lose, and, of that natural luck, 
He beats thee 'gainst the odds ; thy lustre thickens 
When he shines by. I say again, thy spirit 
Is all afraid to govern thee near him, 3° 

But, he away, 't is noble. 

Antony. Get thee gone ; 

Say to Ventidius I would speak with him. — 

\_Exit Soothsayer 
He shall to Parthia. — Be it art or hap, 
He hath spoken true ; the very dice obey him. 
And in our sports my better cunning faints 
Under his chance. If we draw lots, he speeds ; 
His cocks do win the battle still of mine, 
When it is all to nought ; and his quails ever 



Scene IV] Antony and Cleopatra 67 

Beat mine, inhoop'd, at odds. I will to Egypt ; 

And, though I make this marriage for my peace, 40 

I' the east my pleasure lies. — 

Enter Ventidius 

O, come, Ventidius, 
You must to Parthia ; your commission's ready ; 
Follow me, and receive 't. \_Exeunt. 



Scene IV. The Same. A Street 
Enter Lepidus, Maecenas, and Agrippa 

Lepidus. Trouble yourself no further ; pray you, hasten 
Your generals after. 

Agrippa. Sir, Mark Antony 

Will e'en but kiss Octavia, and we '11 follow. 

Lepidus. Till I shall see you in your soldier's dress. 
Which will become you both, farewell. 

Mcecenas. We shall, 

As I conceive the journey, be at the Mount 
Before you, Lepidus. 

Lepidus. Your way is shorter ; 

My purposes do draw me much about. 

You '11 win two days upon me. 

Mcecenas. ) _,. , 

y, -^^ Y Sir, good success ! 

Agrippa. \ ' ° 

Lepidus. Farewell, [Exeunt. 



68 Antony and Cleopatra [Act ii 

Scene V. Alexandria. Cleopatra' s Palace 

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Alexas 

Cleopatra. Give me some- music j music, moody food 
Of us that trade in love. 

Attendants. The music, ho ! 

Enter Mardian the Eunuch 

Cleopatra. Let it alone ; let 's to billiards. Come, 
Charmian. 

Charmian. My arm is sore ; best play with Mardian. 

Cleopatra. As well a woman with an eunuch play'd 
As with a woman. — Come, you '11 play with me, sir ? 

Mardian. As well as I can, madam. 

Cleopatra. And when good will is show'd, though 't 
come too short. 
The actor may plead pardon. I '11 none now. — 
Give me mine angle ; we '11 to the river. There, lo 

My music playing far off, I will betray 
Tawny-finn'd fishes ; my bended hook shall pierce 
Their slimy jaws, and, as I draw them up, 
I '11 think them every one an Antony, 
And say ' Ah, ha ! you 're caught.' 

Charmian. 'T was merry when 

You wager'd on your angling; when your diver 
Did hang a salt-fish on his hook, which he 
With fervency drew up. 

Cleopatra. That time, — O times ! — 

I laugh' d him out of patience ; and that night 



Scene VJ Antony and Cleopatra 69 

I laugh'd him into patience ; and next morn, 20 

Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed, 
Then put my tires and mantles on him whilst 
I wore his sword Philippan. — 

Enter a Messenger 

O, from Italy ! 
Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears, 
That long time have been barren. 

Messenger. Madam, madam, — 

Cleopatra. Antony 's dead ! — If thou say so, villain, 
Thou kill'st thy mistress ; but well and free, 
If thou so yield him, there is gold, and here 
My bluest veins to kiss, a hand that kings 
Have Hpp'd and trembled kissing, 30 

Messenger. First, madam, he is well. 

Cleopatra. Why, there 's more gold. 

But, sirrah, mark, we use 
To say the dead are well ; bring it to that, 
The gold I give thee will I melt and pour 
Down thy ill-uttering throat. 

Messenger, Good madam, hear me. 

Cleopatra. Well, go to, I will ; 

But there 's no goodness in thy face. If Antony 
Be free and healthful, — so tart a favour 
To trumpet such good tidings ! if not well. 
Thou shouldst come like a fury crown'd with snakes, 40 
Not like a formal man. 

Messenger. Will 't please you hear me? 



70 Antony and Cleopatra [Act il 

Cleopatra. I have a mind to strike thee ere thou 
speak'st; 
Yet, if thou say Antony lives, is well, 
Or friends with Caesar, or not captive to him, 
I '11 set thee in a shower of gold, and hail 
Rich pearls upon thee. 

Messenger. Madam, he 's well. 

Cleopatra. Well said. 

Messenger. And friends with Caesar. 

Cleopatra. Thou 'rt an honest man. 

Messenger. Caesar and he are greater friends than ever. 

Cleopatra. Make thee a fortune from me. 

Messenger. But yet, madam, — 

Cleopatra. I do not like ' but yet,' it does allay 50 

The good precedence ; fie upon ' but yet ' ! 
' But yet ' is as a gaoler to bring forth 
Some monstrous malefactor. Prithee, friend, 
Pour out the pack of matter to mine ear. 
The good and bad together : he 's friends with Caesar ; 
In state of health, thou say'st ; and thou say'st, free. 

Messenger. Free, madam ! no ; I made no such report. 
He 's bound unto Octavia. 

Cleopatra, For what good turn ? 

Messenger. For the best turn i' the bed. 

Cleopatra. I am pale, Charmian. 

Messenger. . Madam, he 's married to Octavia. 60 

Cleopatra. The most infectious pestilence upon thee ! 

\Strikes him down. 

Messenger. Good madam, patience. 



Scene V] Antony and Cleopatra 71 

Cleopatra, What say you ? — Hence, 

\Strikes him again. 
Horrible villain ! or I '11 spurn thine eyes 
Like balls before me ; I '11 unhair thy head. 

\_She hales him up and down. 
Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire and stew'd in brine, 
Smarting in Hngering pickle. 

Messenger. Gracious madam, 

I that do bring the news made not the match. 

Cleopatra. Say 't is not so, a province I will give thee, 
And make thy fortunes proud; the blow thou hadst 
Shall make thy peace for moving me to rage, 70 

And I will boot thee with what gift beside 
Thy modesty can beg. 

Messenger. He 's married, madam. 

Cleopatra. Rogue, thou hast liv'd too long. 

\_Draws a knife. 

Messenger. Nay, then I '11 run. — 

What mean you, madam? I have made no fault. \_Exit. 

Charmian. Good madam, keep yourself within your- 
self; 
The man is innocent. 

Cleopatra. Some innocents scape not the thunderbolt. — 
Melt Egypt into Nile ! and kindly creatures 
Turn all to serpents ! — Call the slave again ; 
Though I am mad, I will not bite him ; call. 80 

Charmian. He is afeard to come. 

Cleopatra, I will not hurt him. 

\_Exit Charmian. 



72 Antony and Cleopatra [Act il 

These hands do lack nobility, that they strike 
A meaner than myself, since I myself 
Have given myself the cause. — 

Re-enter Charmian and Messenger 

Come hither, sir. 
Though it be honest, it is never, good 
To bring bad news ; give to a gracious message 
An host of tongues, but let ill tidings tell 
Themselves when they be felt. 

Messenger. I have done my duty. 

Cleopati'-a, Is he married? 
I cannot hate thee worser than I do, 90 

If thou again say yes. 

Messenger. He 's married, madam. 

Cleopatra. The gods confound thee ! dost thou hold 
there still? 

Messenger. Should I lie, madam? 

Cleopatra. O, I would thou didsl, 

So half my Egypt were submerg'd and made 
A cisternlor~scard snakes ! Go, get thee hence \ 
Hadst thou Narcissus in thy face, to me 
Thou wouldst appear most ugly. He is married? 

Messenger. I crave your highness' pardon. 

Cleopatra. He is married? 

Messenger. Take no offence that I would not offend 
you ; 
To punish me for what you make me do 100 

Seems much unequal. He 's married to Octavia. 



Scene VI] Antony and Cleopatra 73 

Cleopatra. O, that his fault should make a knave of thee, 
That art not what thou 'rt sure of ! — Get thee hence. 
The merchandise which thou hast brought from Rome 
Are all too dear for me ; lie they upon thy hand, 
And be undone by 'em ! \_Exit Messenger. 

Charmian. Good your highness, patience. 

Cleopatra. In praising Antony, I have disprais'd Caesar. 

Charmian. Many times, madam. 

Cleopatra. I am paid for 't now. 

Lead me from hence ; 

I faint. O Iras ! Charmian ! — 'T is no matter. — Ho 
Go to the fellow, good Alexas: bid him 
Report the feature of Octavia, her years, ^ 

Her inclination, let him not leave out 
The colour of her hair ; bring me word quickly. — 

\_Exit Alexas. 
Let him for ever go ; — let him not — Charmian, 
Though he be painted one way like a Gorgon, 
The other way 's a Mars. — Bid you Alexas \_To Mardian. 
Bring me word how tall she is. — Pity me, Charmian, 
But do not speak to me. — Lead me to my chamber. 

\_Exeunt. 

Scene VI. Near Misenum 

Flourish. Enter Pompey and Menas at one side, with 
driun and trumpet ; at another C^^sar, Anton v, Lepi- 
Dus, Enobarbus, M^cenas, with Soldiers marching 

Pompey. Your hostages I have, so have you mine ; 
And we shall talk before we fight. 



74 Antony and Cleopatra [Act 

CcBsar. Most meet 

That first we come to words ; and therefore have we 
Our written purposes before us sent, 
Which if thou hast consider'd, let us know 
If 't will tie up thy discontented sword, 
And carry back to Sicily much tall youth 
That else must perish here. 

Pompey. To you all three, 

The senators alone of this great world, 
Chief factors for the gods, I do not know lo 

Wherefore my father should revengers want, 
Having a son and friends ; since Julius Caesar, 
Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted. 
There saw you labouring for him. What was 't 
That mov'd pale Cassius to conspire, and what 
Made the all-honour'd, honest Roman, Brutus, 
With the arm'd rest, courtiers of beauteous freedom, 
To drench the Capitol, but that they would 
Have one man but a man ? And that is it 
Hath made me rig my navy, at whose burthen 20 

The anger'd ocean foams, with which I meant 
To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome 
Cast on my noble father. 

Ccesar. Take your time. 

Antony. Thou canst not fear us, Pompey, with thy 
sails ; 
We '11 speak with thee at sea ; at land, thou know'st 
How much we do o'ercount thee. 

Pompey. At land, indeed, 



Scene VI] Antony and Cleopatra 75 

Thou dost o'ercount me of my father's house ; 
But since the cuckoo builds not for himself, 
Remain in 't as thou mayst. 

Lepidus. Be pleas'd to tell us — 

For this is from the present — how you take 30 

The offers we have sent you. 

Ccesar. There 's the point. 

Antony. Which do not be entreated to, but weigh 
What it is worth embrac'd. 

Ccesar. And what may follow, 

To try a larger fortune. 

Pompey. You have made me offer 

Of Sicily, Sardinia ; and I must 
Rid all the sea of pirates ; then, to send 
Measures of wheat to Rome ; this greed upon, 
To part with unhack'd edges, and bear back 
Our targes undinted. 

Ccesar. '\ 

Antony. [■ That 's our offer. 

Lepidus. 3 

Pompey. Know, then, 

I came before you here a man prepar'd 40 

To take this offer, but Mark Antony 
Put me to some impatience. — Though I lose 
The praise of it by telling, you must know, 
When Caesar and your brother were at blows. 
Your mother came to Sicily and did find 
Her welcome friendly. 

Antony. I have heard it, Pompey, 



76 Antony and Cleopatra [Act II 

And am well studied for a liberal thanks 
Which I do owe you. 

Pompey. Let me have your hand ; 

I did not think, sir, to have met you here. 

Antony. The beds i' the east are soft ; and thanks 
to you, 50 

That call'd me timelier than my purpose hither, 
For I have gain'd by 't. 

CcBsar. Since I saw you last. 

There is a change upon you. 

Pompey. Well, I know not 

What counts harsh fortune casts upon my face. 
But in my bosom shall she never come. 
To make my heart her vassal. 

Lepidus. Well met here. 

Pompey. I hope so, Lepidus. — Thus we are 
agreed ; 
I crave our composition may be written. 
And seal'd between us. 

CcBsar. That 's the next to do. 

Pompey. We '11 feast each other ere we part, and 
let 's 60 

Draw lots who shall begin. 

Antony. That will I, Pompey. 

Pompey. No, Antony, take the lot j but, first 
Or last, your fine Egyptian cookery 
Shall have the fame. I have heard that Julius Caesar 
Grew fat with feasting there. 

Antony. You have heard much. 



Scene VI] Antony and Cleopatra 77 

Pompey. I have fair meanings, sir. 

Antony. And fair words to 

them. 

Pojupey. Then so much have I heard ; 
And I have heard Apollodorus carried — 

Enobarbus. No more of that ; he did so. 

Pompey. What, I pray you ? 

Enobarbus. A certain queen to Caesar in a mat- 
tress. 70 

Pompey. I know thee now ; how far'st thou, soldier ? 

Enobarbus. Well ; 

And well am like to do, for I perceive 
Four feasts are toward. 

Pompey. Let me shake thy hand j 

I never hated thee. I have seen thee fight 
When I have envied thy behaviour. 

Enobarbus. Sir, 

I never lov'd you much, but I ha' prais'd ye 
When you have well deserv'd ten times as much 
As I have said you did. 

Pompey. Enjoy thy plainness, 

It nothing ill becomes thee. — 

Aboard my galley I invite you all. 80 

Will you lead, lords ? 
Ccesar. ^ 

Antony, r Show us the way, sir. 

Lepidus. ^ 

Pompey. Come. 

\_Exeunt all but Menas and Enobarbus. 



78 Antony and Cleopatra [Act 11 

Menas. \^Aside\ Thy father, Pompey, would ne'er 
have made this treaty. — You and I have known, sir. 

Enobarbus. At sea, I think. 

Menas. We have, sir. 

Enobarbus. You have done well by water. 

Menas. And you by land. 

Enobarbus. I will praise any man that will praise 
me ; though it cannot be denied what I have done by 
land. 90 

Menas. Nor what I have done by water. 

Enobarbus. Yes, something you can deny for your 
own safety ; you have been a great thief by sea. 

Menas. And you by land. 

Enobarbus. There I deny my land service. But 
give me your hand, Menas ; if our eyes had authority, 
here they might take two thieves kissing. 

Menas. All men's faces are true, whatsome'er their 
hands are. 

Enobarbus. But there is never a fair woman has a 100 
true face. 

Menas. No slander ; they steal hearts. 

Enobarbus. We came hither to fight with you. 

Menas. For my part, I am sorry it is turned to a 
drinking. Pompey doth this day laugh away his 
fortune. 

Enobarbus. If he do, sure, he cannot weep 't back 
again. 

Menas. You 've said, sir. We looked not for Mark 
Antony here ; pray you, is he married to Cleopatra? no 



Scene VI] Antony and Cleopatra 79 

Enobarbus. Caesar's sister is called Octavia. 

Menas. True, sir ; she was the wife of Caius Mar- 
cellus. 

Enobarbtts. But she is now the wife of Marcus 
Antonius. 

Menas. Pray ye, sir? 

Enobarbus. 'T is true. 

Menas. Then is Caesar and he for ever knit together. 

Enobarbus. If I were bound to divine of this unity, 
I would not prophesy so. 120 

Menas. I think the policy of that purpose made 
more in the marriage than the love of the parties. 

Enobarbus. I think so too ; but you shall find, the 
band that seems to tie their friendship together will be 
the very strangler of their amity. Octavia is of a holy, 
cold, and still conversation. 

Menas. Who would not have his wife so ? 

Enobarbus. Not he that himself is not so ; which is 
Mark Antony. He will to his Egyptian dish again; 
then shall the sighs of Octavia blow" the fire up in 130 
Caesar, and, as I said before, that which is the strength 
of their amity shall prove the immediate author of 
their variance. Antony will use his afi*ection where it 
is ; he married but his occasion here. 

Menas. And thus it may be. Come, sir, will you 
aboard? I have a health for you. 

Enobarbus. I shall take it, sir ; we have used our 
throats in Egypt. 

Menas. Come, let 's away. \_Exeunt. 



8o Antony and Cleopatra [Act ii 

Scene VII. On board Potupefs Galley, off Misenuni 

Music plays. Enter two or three Servants with a 
da?iquet 

1 Servant. Here they '11 be, man. Some o' their 
plants are ill-rooted already ; the least wind i' the world 
will blow them down. 

2 Servant. Lepidus is high-coloured. 

1 Servant. They have made him drink alms-drink. 

2 Servant. As they pinch one another by the dis- 
position, he cries out ' No more,' reconciles them to 
his entreaty and himself to the drink. 

1 Servant. But it raises the greater war between 
him and his discretion. lo 

2 Servant. Why, this it is to have a name in great 
men's fellowship ; I had as lief have a reed that will 
do me no service as a partisan I could not heave. 

I Servant. To be called into a huge sphere, and 
not to be seen to move in 't, are the holes where eyes 
should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeks. 

A sennet sounded. Enter Caesar, Antony, Lepidus, Pom- 
PEY, Agrippa, M/ECEnas, Enobarbus, Menas, with other 
Captains 

Antony. \To Ccesar\ Thus do they, sir: they take the 
flow o' the Nile 
By certain scales i' the pyramid ; they know. 
By the height, the lowness, or the mean, if dearth 
Or foison follow. The higher Nilus swells, so 



I 



Scene viij Antony and Cleopatra 8i 

The more it promises ; as it ebbs, the seedsman 
Upon the sUme and ooze scatters his grain, 
And shortly comes to harvest. 

Lepidiis. You 've strange serpents there. 

Antony. Ay, Lepidus. 

Lepidus. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of 
your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your 
crocodile. 

Antony. They are so. 

Po7npey. Sit, — and some wine ! — A health to Lep- 
idus ! 30 

Lepidus. I am not so well as I should be, but I '11 
ne'er out. 

Enobarbiis. Not till you have slept ; I fear me 
you '11 be in till then. 

Lepidus. Nay, certainly, I have heard the Ptolemies' 
pyramises are very goodly things ; without contradic- 
tion, 1 have heard that. 

Menas. \_Aside to Pompey'\ Pompey, a word. 

Pompey. \_Aside to Menas~\ Say in mine ear : what 
is 't? 

Menas. \^Aside to Pompey'] Forsake thy seat, I do be- 
seech thee, captain, 40 
And hear me speak a word. 

Pompey. [Aside to Menas] Forbear me till anon. — 
This wine for Lepidus ! 

Lepidus. What manner o' thing is your crocodile? 

Antony. It is shaped, sir, like itself, and it is as 
broad as it hath breadth ; it is just so high as it is, and 

ANTONY — 6 



82 Antony and Cleopatra [Act II 

moves with it own organs ; it lives by that which nour- 
isheth it ; and, the elements once out of it, it transmi- 
grates. 

Lepidus. What colour is it of? 50 

Antony. Of it own colour too. 

Lepidus. 'T is a strange serpent. 

Antony. 'T is so ; and the tears of it are wet. 

Ccesar. Will this description satisfy him? 

Antony. With the health that Pompey gives him, 
else he is a very epicure. 

Pompey. \_Aside to Menas'] Go hang, sir, hang ! Tell 
me of that ? away ! 
Do as I bid you. — Where 's this cup I call'd for? 

Menas. \_Aside to Pompey'] If for the sake of merit 
thou wilt hear me, 
Rise from thy stool. 

Potnpey. [Aside to Menas'] I think thou 'rt mad. 
The matter? \_Rises, and walks aside. 60 

Menas. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. 

Pompey. Thou hast serv'd me with much faith. 
What 's else to say? — 
Be jolly, lords. 

Antony. These quicksands, Lepidus, 

Keep off them, for you sink. 

Menas. Wilt thou be lord of all the world ? 

Pompey. What say'st thou ? 

Menas. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world ? That 's 
twice. 

Pompey. How should that be? 



I 



Scene VII] Antony and Cleopatra 83 

Menas. But entertain it, 

And, though thou think me poor, I am the man 
Will give thee all the world. 

Ponipey. Hast thou drunk well? 

Menas. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup. 70 
Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove ; 
Whate'er the ocean pales or sky incHps 
Is thine, if thou wilt ha 't. 

Pompey. Show me which way. 

Menas. These three world-sharers, these competitors, 
Are in thy vessel; let me cut the cable. 
And, when we are put off, fall to their throats ; 
All there is thine. 

Pompey. Ah, this thou shouldst have done, 

And not have spoke on 't ! In me 't is villany ; 
In thee 't had been good service. Thou must know, 
'T is not my profit that does lead mine honour ; 80 

Mine honour, it. Repent that e'er thy tongue 
Hath so betray'd thine act ; being done unknown, 
I should have found it afterwards well done. 
But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink. 

Menas. \_Aside'\ For this, 
I '11 never follow thy pall'd fortunes more. 
Who seeks, and will not take when once 't is offer'd, 
Shall never find it more. 

Pompey. This health to Lepidus ! 

Antony. Bear him ashore. I '11 pledge it for him, 
Pompey. 

Enobarbus. Here 's to thee, Menas ! 



84 



Antony and Cleopatra 



[Act II 



90 



Menas. Enobarbus, welcome 

Pompey. Fill till the cup be hid. 

Enobarbus. There 's a strong fellow, Menas. 

\Pointing to the Attendant ivho carries off Lepidus. 

Menas. Why ? 

Enobarbus. A' bears the third part of the world, 
man; see'st not? 

Menas. The third part, then, is drunk ; would it were 
all, 
That it might go on wheels ! 

Enobarbus. Drink thou ; increase the reels. 

Menas. Come. 

Pompey. This is not yet an Alexandrian feast. 100 

Antony. It ripens towards it. — Strike the vessels, ho ! 
Here is to Caesar ! 

Ccesar. I could well forbear 't. 

It 's monstrous labour when I wash my brain 
And it grows fouler. 

Antony. Be a child o' the time. 

Ccesar. Possess it, I '11 make answer ; 
But I had rather fast from all four days 
Than drink so much in one. 

Enobarbus. Ha, my brave emperor ! [ To Antony. 

Shall we dance now the Egyptian Bacchanals 
And celebrate our drink? 

Pompey. Let 's ha 't, good soldier. 

Antony. Come, let 's all take hands no 

Till that the conquering wine hath steep'd our sense 
In soft and delicate Lethe. 



Scene VII] Antony and Cleopatra 85 

Enobarbus. All take hands. — 

Make battery to our ears with the loud music. — 
The while I '11 place you ; then the boy shall sing; 
The holding every man shall bear as loud 
As his strong sides can volley. 

\_Music plays. Enobarbits places them hand in hand. 

Song 

Come, thou monarch of the vine, 
Plmnpy Bacchtis with pink eynef 
hi thy fats our cares be drowned, 
With thy gj^apes our hairs be crowned ! 120 

Cup us, till the world go round. 
Cup us, till the world go round ! 

Ccesar. What would you more? — Pompey, good 
^ night. — Good brother, v» "» " 
Let me request you off; our graver business 
Frowns at this levity. — Gentle lords, let 's part ; -• ■ 
You see we have burnt our cheeks. Strong Enobarb 
Is weaker than the wine, and mine own tongue 
Splits what it speaks ; the wild disguise hath almost 
Antick'd us all. What needs more words ? Goodnight. — 
Good Antony, your hand. ———'■- 

Pompey. I '11 try you on the shore. 130 

A?ito7iy. And shall, sir ; give 's your hand. 

Pompey. O Antony, 

You have my father's house, — but, what ? we are friends. 
Come, down into the boat. 



86 Antony and Cleopatra [Act il 

Enobarbus. Take heed you fall not. — 

\_Exeunt all but Enobarbus and Menas. 
Menas, I '11 not on shore. 

Menas. No, to my cabin. — 

These drums ! these trumpets, flutes ! what ! — 

Let Neptune hear we bid a loud farewell 

To these great fellows. — Sound and be hang'd, sound 

out! 

\_Sound a flourish^ with drums. 

Enobarbus. Hoc ! says a'. — There 's my cap. 

Menas. Hoo ! — Noble captain, come. [^Exeunt. 





ACTIUM 



ACT III 

Scene I. A Plain in Syria 

Enter Ventidius as it were in triimiph, with Silius, and 
other Romans, Officers, and Soldiers j the dead body of 
Pacorus borne before him 

Ventidius. Now, darting Parthia, art thou struck ; and 

now — ~" 

Pleas'd fortune does of Marcus Crassus' death 
Make me revenger. — Bear the king's son's body 
Before our army. — Thy Pacorus, Orodes, 
Pays this for Marcus Crassus. 

Silius. Noble Ventidius, 

Whilst yet with Parthian blood thy sword is warm, 
The fugitive Parthians follow ; spur through Media, 
Mesopotamia, and the shelters whither 

87 



88 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iii 



The routed fly ; so thy grand captain Antony *— 
Shall set thee on triumphant chariots and 
Put garlands on thy head. 

Ventidms. O Silius, Silius, 

I have done enough. A lower place, note well, 
May make too great an act ; for learn this, Silius, 
Better to leave undone than by our deed 
Acquire too high a fame when him we serve 's away. 
Caesar and Antony have ever won 
More in their officer than person. Sossius, 
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant, 
For quick accumulation of renown 

Which he achiev'd by the minute, lost his favour. 20 

Who does i' the wars more than his captain can 
Becomes his captain's captain ; and ambition, 
The soldier's virtue, rather makes choice of loss 
Than gain which darkens him. 
I could do more to do Antonius good. 
But 't would offend him, and in his offence 
Should my performance perish. 

Silius. Thou hast, Ventidius, that 

Without the which a soldier and his sword 
Grants scarce distinction. Thou wilt write to Antony? 

Ventidius. I '11 humbly signify what in his name, 30 
That magical word of war, we have effected ; 
How, with his banners and his well-paid ranks, 
The ne'er-yet-beaten horse of Parthia 
We have jaded out o' the field. 

Silius- Where is he now ? 



1 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 89 

Ventidius. He purposeth to Athens, whither, with what 
haste 
The weight we must convey with 's will permit, 
We shall appear before him. — On, there ; pass along ! 

\_Exeiint. 

Scene II. Rome. An Antechamber in Casar's House 

Enter Agrippa at one door, Enobarbus at another 

Agrippa. What, are the brothers parted? 
E7iobarbus. They have dispa-tch'd with Pompey, he is 
gone. 
The other three are seahng. Octavia weeps 
To part from Rome ; Caesar is sad ; and Lepidus, 
Since Pompey's feast, as Menas says, is troubled 
With the green sickness. 

Agrippa. 'T is a noble Lepidus. -— — "*^ 

Enobaj'bus. A very fine one. O, how he loves Caesar ! 
Agrippa. Nay, but how dearly he adores Mark Antony 1 
Enobarbus. Caesar? Why, he's the Jupiter of men, "" 
Agrippa. What 's Antony ? The god of Jupiter. — Xo 
Enobarbus. Spake you of Caesar? Hoo ! the nonpareil ! 
Agrippa. O Antony ! O thou Arabian bird ! - ^ 
Enobarbus. Would you praise Caesar, say, — Caesar ; 

go no further. 
Agrippa. Indeed, he plied them both with excellent 

praises. 
Enobarbtts. But he loves Caesar best ; yet he loves 
Antony. 



go Antony and Cleopatra [Act iii 

Hoo ! hearts, tongues, figures, scribes, bards, poets, can- 
not 
Think, speak, cast, write, sing, number, hoo ! 
His love to Antony. But as for Caesar, 
Kneel down, kneel down, and wonder. 

Ag7'ippa. Both he loves. 

Enobarbus. They are his shards, and he their beetle. — 
[^Trumpets within. ~\ So; 20 

This is to horse. — Adieu, noble Agrippa. ^**>«— —^ 

Agrippa. Good fortune, worthy soldier, and farewell 

Enter C^sar, Antony, Lepidus, and Octavia 

Antony. No further, sir. 

CcEsar. You take from me a great part of myself; 
Use me well in 't. — Sister, prove such a wife 
As my thoughts make thee, and as my farthest band 
Shall pass on thy approof. — Most noble Antony, 
Let not the piece of virtue which is set 
Betwixt us as the cement of our love. 
To keep it builded, be the ram to batter 30 

The fortress of it ; for better might we 
Have lov'd without this mean, if on both parts 
This be not cherish'd. 

Antony. Make me not offended 

In your distrust. 

Ccesar. I have said. 

Antony. You shall not find. 

Though you be therein curious, the least cause 
For what you seem to fear. So, the gods keep you. 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 91 

And make the hearts of Romans serve your ends ! 
We will here part. 

Ccesar. Farewell, my dearest sister, fare thee well ; 
The elements be kind to thee, and make 40 

Thy spirits all of comfort ! fare thee well. 

Ociavia. My noble brother ! ,— — 

Antony. The April 's in her eyes ; it is love's spring, 
And these the showers to bring it on. — Be cheerful. 

Octavia. Sir, look well to my husband's house, and — 

Ccesar. What, 

Octavia ? 

Octavia. I '11 tell you in your ear. 

Antony. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can 
Her heart inform her tongue, — the swan's down- 
feather. 
That stands upon the swell at full of tide, 
And neither way inclines. 

Enobarbus. \^Aside to Agrippa'] Will Csesar weep ? 50 

Agrippa. S^Aside to Enobarbus^ He has a cloud in 's 
face. 

Enobarbus. \_Aside to Agrippa~\ He were the worse 
for that, were he a horse ; 
So is he, being a man. 

Agrippa. \_Aside to Enobarbus'] Why, Enobarbus, 
When Antony found Julius Caesar dead, 
He cried almost to roaring ; and he wept 
When at Philippi he found Brutus slain. 

Enobarbus. \_Aside to Agrippa] That year, indeed, he 
was troubled with a rheum ; 




gi Antony and Cleopatra [Act ill 

What willingly he did confound he wail'd, 

Believe 't, till I wept too. 

CcEsar. No, sweet Octavia, 

You shall hear from me still ; the time shall not 

Outgo my thinking on you. 

Antony. Come, sir, come: 

I '11 wrestle with you in my strength of love. 

Look, here I have you ; thus I let you go, 

And give you to the gods. 

Ccdsar. Adieu ; be happy 1 

Lepidus. Let all the number of the stars give light 

To thy fair way ! 

Ccesar. Farewell, farewell ! \_Kisses Octavia, 

Antony, Farewell ! 

\Trumpets sound. Exeunt. 



Scene III. Alexandria. Cleopatrd s Palace 

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Alexas 

Cleopatra. Where is the fellow? 

Alexas. Half afeard to come. 

Cleopatra. Go to, go to. — 

Enter the Messenger as before 

Come hither, sir. 
Alexas. Good majesty, 

Herod of Jewry dare not look upon you 
But when you are well pleas'd. 



I 



Scene III] Antony and Cleopatra 93 

Cleopatra. That Herod's head 

I '11 have ; but how, when Antony is gone 
Through whom I might command it? — Come thou near. 

Messenger. Most gracious majesty, — " ■' 

Cleopatra. Didst thou behold Octavia? 

Messefiger. Ay, dread queen. — — "■** 

Cleopatra. Where ? 10 

Messenger. Madam, in Rome 
I look'd her in the face, and saw her led 
Between her brother and Mark Antony. 

Cleopatra. Is she as tall as me ? 

Messenger. She is not, madam. 

Cleopatra. Didst hear her speak? is she shrill-tongu'd 
or low? 

Messenger. Madam, I heard her speak; she is low- 
voic'd. 

Cleopatra. That 's not so good ; he cannot like her 
long. 

Charmian. Like her ! O Isis ! 't is impossible. 

Cleopatra. I think so, Charmian ; dull of tongue and 
dwarfish ! — 
What majesty is in her gait? Remember, 
If e'er thou look'dst on majesty. 

Messenger. She creeps ; 

Her motion and her station are as one ; 
She shows a body rather than a life, 
A statue than a breather. 

Cleopatra. Is this certain? 

Messenger. Or I have no observance. 



94 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iii 

Charmian. Three in Egypt 

Cannot make better note. 

Cleopatra. He 's very knowing, 

I do perceive 't. There 's nothing in her yet. — 
The fellow has good judgment. 

Charmian. Excellent. 

Cleopatra. Guess at her years, I prithee. 

Messenger. Madam, 

She was a widow, — 

Cleopatra. Widow ! — Charmian, hark. 30 

Messenger. And I do think she 's thirty. 

Cleopatra. Bear'st thou her face in mind ? is 't long or 
round ? 

Messenger. Round even to faultiness. 

Cleopatra. For the most part, too, they are foolish that 
are so. — 
Her hair, what colour? 

Messenger. Brown, madam ; and her forehead 
As low as she would wish it. 

Cleopatra. There 's gold for thee. 

Thou must not take my former sharpness ill. 
I will employ thee back again ; I find thee 
Most fit for business. Go make thee ready; 40 

Our letters are prepar'd. \_Exit Messenger. 

Charmian. A proper man. 

Cleopatra. Indeed, he is so ; I repent me much 
That I so harried him. Why, methinks, by him. 
This creature 's no such thing. 

Charmian. Nothing, madam. 



Scene IV] Antony and Cleopatra 95 

Cleopatra. The man hath seen some majesty, and 

should know. 
Charmian. Hath he seen majesty? Isis else defend, 
And serving you so long ! 

Cleopatra. I have one thing more to ask him yet, good 
Charmian. 
But 't is no matter ; thou shalt bring him to me 
Where I will write. All may be well enough. 50 

Charmian. I warrant you, madam. [^Exeunt. 

Scene IV. Athens. A Room in Antony's House 
Enter Antony and Octavia 

Antony. N^y, nay, Octavia, not only that, — 
That were excusable, that, and thousands more 
Of semblable import, — but he hath wag'd 
New wars 'gainst Pompey, made his will and read it 
To pubHc ear. 

Spoke scantly of me. When perforce he could not 
But pay me terms of honour, cold and sickly 
He vented them, most narrow measure lent me. 
When the best hint was given him, he not took 't, 
Or did it from his teeth. 

Octavia. O my good lord, - ^. - 10 

Believe not all ; or, if you must beheve. 

Stomach not all. A more unhappy lady. 

If this division chance, ne'er stood between, 

Praying for both parts. 

The good gods will mock me presently. 

When I shall pray, ' O, bless my lord and husband ! ' 



g6 Antony and Cleopatra [Act ill 

Undo that prayer, by crying out as loud, 
* O, bless my brother ! ' Husband win, win brother, 
Prays, and destroys the prayer; no midway 
'Twixt these extremes at all. 

'Antony. Gentle Octavia, 20 

Let your best love draw to that point which seeks 
Best to preserve it. If I lose mine honour, 
I lose myself; better I were not yours 
Than yours so branchless. But, as you requested, 
Yourself shall go between 's ; the meantime, lady, 
I '11 raise the preparation of a war 
Shall stain your brother. Make your soonest haste ; 
So your desires are yours. 

Octavia. Thanks to my lord. 

The Jove of power make me — most weak, most weak — 
Your reconciler ! Wars 'twixt you twain would be 30 
As if the world would cleave, and that slain men 
Should solder up the rift. 

Antony. When it appears to you where this begins. 
Turn your displeasure that way ; for our faults 
Can never be so equal that your love 
Can equally move with them. Provide your going ; 
Choose your own company, and command what cost 
Your heart has mind to. \_Exeunt, 

Scene V. The Same. Another Room 
Enter Enobarbus and Eros, meeting 
Enobarbus. How now, friend Eros ! -— .. 
Eros. There 's strange news come, sir. 



Scene VI] Antony and Cleopatra 97 

Etiobarbus. What, man? 

E?'os. Caesar and Lepidus have made wars upon Pompey. 

E?iobarbus. This is old ; what is the success ? 

Eros. Caesar, having made use of him in the wars 
'gainst Pompey, presently denied him rivahty, would 
not let him partake in the glory of the action ; and, 
not resting here, accuses him of letters he had formerly 
wrote to Pompey ; upon his own appeal, seizes him ; 10 
so the poor third is up, till death enlarge his confine. 

Eiiobai'bus. Then, world, thou hast a pair of chaps, no 
more ; 
And throw between them all the food thou hast, 
They'll grind the one the other. Where 's Antony? 

Eros. He 's walking in the garden — thus ; and spurns 
The rush that lies before him ; cries ' Fool Lepidus ! ' «— 
And threats the throat of that his officer 
That murther'd Pompey. 

Enobai-biis. Our great navy 's rigg'd. 

E7'os. For Italy and Caesar. More, Domitius ; 
My lord desires you presently ; my news . 20 

I might have told hereafter. 

Enobarbus. 'T will be nought j 

But let it be, — Bring me to Antony. 

Eros. Come, sir. \_Exeunt. 

Scene VI. Roiiie. Ccesar's House 
Enter C^sar, Agrippa, and M^cenas 
CcBsar. Contemning Rome, he has done all this, and 
more, 

ANTONY — 7 



98 Antony and Cleopatra [Act III 

In Alexandria. Here 's the manner of 't : 

I' the market-place, on a tribunal silver'd, 

Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold 

Were publicly enthron'd ; at the feet sat 

Csesarion, whom they call my father's son, 

And all the unlawful issue that their lust 

Since then hath made between them. Unto her 

He gave the stabhshment of Egypt, made her 

Of lower Syria, Cyprus, Lydia, 10 

Absolute queen. 

Mcecenas. This in the public eye? 

Ccesar. V the common show- place where they exercise. 
His sons he there proclaim'd the kings of kings ; 
Great Media, Parthia, and Armenia, 
He gave to Alexander ; to Ptolemy he assign'd 
Syria, Cilicia, and Phoenicia. She 
In the habiliments of the goddess Isis 
That day appear'd, and oft before gave audience, 
As 't is reported, so. 

Mcecenas. Let Rome be thus 

Inform'd. 

Agrippa. Who, queasy with his insolence 20 

Already, will their good thoughts call from him. 

Ccesai'. The people know it, and have now receiv'd 
His accusations. 

Agrippa, Who does he accuse? 

Ccesar. Caesar; and that, having in Sicily 
Sextus Pompeius spoil'd, we had not rated him 
His part o' the isle ; then does he say he lent me 



Scene VI] Antony and Cleopatra 99 

Some shipping unrestor'd ; lastly, he frets 
That Lepidus of the triumvirate 
Should be depos'd, and, being, that we detain 
All his revenue. 

Agrippa. Sir, this should be answer'd. 30 

Ccesar. 'T is done already and the messenger gone. 
I have told him Lepidus was grown too cruel, 
That he his high authority abus'd 

And did deserve his change ; for what I have conquer'd, 
I grant him part, but then, in his Armenia 
And other of his conquer'd kingdoms, I 
Demand the like. 

Mcecenas. He '11 never yield to that. 

Ccesar. Nor must not then be yielded to in this. 

Enter Octavia with her Train 

Octavia. Hail, Caesar, and my lord ! hail, most dear 

Caesar ! 
Ccesar. That ever I should call thee castaway ! 40 

Octavia. You have not call'd me so, nor have you 

cause. 
Ccesar. Why have you stolen upon us thus? You 
come not 
Like Caesa r's siste r ; the wife of Antony 
Should have an array for an usher, and 
The neighs of horse to tell of her approach 
Long ere she did appear ; the trees by the way 
Should have borne men, and expectation fainted, 
Longing for what it had not ; nay, the dust 



L.of 



lOO Antony and Cleopatra [Act iii 

Should have ascended to the roof of heaven, 

Rais'd by your populous troops ; but you are come 50 

A market-maid to Rome, and have prevented 

The ostentation of our love, which, left unshown. 

Is often left unlov'd. We should have met you 

By sea and land, supplying every stage 

With an augmented greeting. 

Octavia. Good my lord, 

To come thus was I not constrain' d, but did it 

On my free will. My lord, Mark Antony, .-- 

Hearing that you prepar'd for war, acquainted 
My grieved ear withal, whereon I begg'd 
His pardon for return. 

CcBsar. Which soon he granted, 60 

Being an obstruct 'tween his lust and him. 

Octavia. Do not say so, my lord. 

CcBsar. I have eyes upon him. 

And his affairs come to me on the wind. 
Where is he now? 

Octavia. My lord, in Athens. """ 

Ccesar. No, my most wronged sister ; Cleopatra 
Hath nodded him to her. He hath given his em- 
pire 
Up to a whore, who now are levying 
The kings o' the earth for war. He hath assem- 
bled 
Bocchus, the king of Libya ; Archelaus 
Of Cappadocia ; Philadelphos, king 70 

Of Paphlagonia ; the Thracian king, Adallas ; 



Scene VI] Antony and Cleopatra loi 

King Malchiis of Arabia ; King of Pont ; 
Herod of Jewry ; Mithridates, king 
Of Comagene ; Polemon and Amyntas, 
The kings of Mede and Lycaonia, 
With a more larger list of sceptres. 

Octavia. Ay me, most wretched, 

That have my heart parted betwixt two friends 
That do afflict each other ! 

CcBsai\ Welcome hither; 

Your letters did withhold our breaking forth 
Till we perceiv'd both how you were wrong led 80 

And we m neghgent danger. Cheer your heart ; 
Be you not troubled with the time, which drives 
O'er your content these strong necessities, 
But let determ.in'd things to destiny 
Hold unbewail'd their way. Welcome to Rome ; 
Nothing more dear to me. You are abus'd 
Beyond the mark of thought ; and the high gods, 
To do you justice, make them ministers 
Of us and those that love you. Best of comfort. 
And ever welcome to us. 

Agrippa. Welcome, lady. .^ 90 

M(Bcenas. Welcome, dear madam. 
Each heart in Rome does love and pity you ; 
Only the adulterous Antony, most large - 1— 

In his abominations, turns you off. 
And gives his potent regiment to a trull, 
That noises it against us. 

Octavia. Is it so, sir? 



102 Antony and Cleopatra [Act ill 

Ccesar. Most certain. Sister, welcome ; pray you, 
Be ever known to patience. My dear'st sister ! 

\_Exeunt. 



Scene VII. Near Actium. Antonfs Camp 
Enter Cleopatra and Enobarbus 

Cleopatra. I will be even with thee, doubt it not. 

Enobarbus. But why, why, why? 

Cleopatra. Thou hast forspoke my being in these wars 
And say'st it is not fit. 

Enobarbus. Well, is it, is it? 

Cleopatra. Is 't not denounc'd against us ? why should 
not we 
Be there in person? 

Enobarbus. Your presence needs must puzzle Antony, 
Take from his heart, take from his brain, from 's time, 
What should not then be spar'd. He is already 
Traduc'd for levity, and 't is said in Rome lo 

That Photinus, an eunuch, and your maids 
Manage this war. 

Cleopatra. Sink Rome, and their tongues rot 

That speak against us ! A charge we bear i' the war. 
And, as the president of my kingdom, will 
Appear there for a man. Speak not against it; 
I will not stay behind. 

Enobarbtcs. Nay, I have done. 

Here comes the emperor. 



II 






Scene VII] Antony and Cleopatra 103 

Enter Antony and Canidius 

Antony. Is it not strange, Canidius, 

That from Tarentum and Brundusium 
He could so quickly cut the Ionian sea 
And take in Toryne? — You have heard on 't, sweet? 20 

Cleopatra. Celerity is never more admir'd 
Than by the negligent. 

Anto7iy. A good rebuke, 

Which might have well becom'd the best of men, 
To taunt at slackness. — Canidius, we 
Will fight with him by sea. 

Cleopatra. By sea ! what else ? 

Canidius. Why will my lord do so ? 

Antony. For that he dares us to 't. 

Enobarbus. So hath my lord dar'd him to single fight. 

Canidius. Ay, and to wage this battle at Pharsalia 
Where Caesar fought with Pompey ; but these offers. 
Which serve not for his vantage, he shakes off, 30 

And so should you. 

Enobarbus. Your ships are not well mann'd ; 

Your mariners are muleters, reapers, people ,««..«««— 
Ingross'd by swift impress'^ ifi C8esar'"s" fleet 
Are those that often have 'gainst Pompey fought. 
Their ships are yare, yours heavy ; no disgrace 
Shall fall you for refusing him at sea. 
Being prepar'd for land. 

Antony. By sea, by sea ! 

Enobarbus. Most worthy sir, you therein throw away 



I04 Antony and Cleopatra [Act 

The absolute soldiership you have by land, 
Distract your army, which doth most consist 
Of war-mark 'd footmen, leave unexecuted 
Your own renowned knowledge, quite forego 
The way which promises assurance, and 
Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard 
From firm security. 

Antony. I '11 fight at sea. 

Cleopatra. I have sixty sails, Caesar none better. 

Antony. Our overplus of shipping will we burn ; 
And, with the rest full-mann'd, from the head of Actium 
Beat the approaching Caesar. But if we fail, 
We then can do 't at land. — 

Enter a Messenger 

Thy business ? 50 

Messenger. The news is true, my lord ; he is de- 
scried ; 
Caesar has taken Toryne. 

Antony. Can he be there in person ? 't is impossible ; 
Strange that his power should be. — Canidius, 
Our nineteen legions thou shalt hold by land, 
And our twelve thousand horse. We '11 to our ship. — 
Away, my Thetis ! — 

Enter a Soldier 

How now, worthy soldier? 
Soldier. O noble emperor, do not fight by sea ; 
Trust not to rotten planks. Do you misdoubt 



Scene VII] Antony and Cleopatra 105 

This sword and these my wounds ? Let the Egyptians 
And the Phoenicians go a-ducking ; we 61 

Have us'd to conquer, standing on the earth 
And fighting foot to foot. 

Antony. Well, well. — Away ! 

\_Exeunt Antony ^ Cleopatra, and Enobarbus, 

Soldier. By Hercules, I think I am i' the right. 

Canidms, Soldier, thou art, but his whole action 
grows 
Not in the power on 't ; so our leader 's led, 
And we are women's men. '"" 

Soldier. " -' You keep by land 

The legions and the horse whole, do you not? 

Canidius. Marcus Octavius, Marcus Justeius, 
Publicola, and Cselius, are for sea, 70 

But we keep whole by land. This speed of Caesar's 
Carries beyond behef. 

Soldier. While he was yet in Rome, 

His power went out in such distractions as 
Beguil'd all spies. 

Canidius. Who 's his lieutenant, hear you? 

Soldier. They say, one Taurus. 

Canidius. Well I know the man. 

Enter a Messenger 

Messenger. The emperor calls Canidius. 
Canidius. With news the time's with labour, and throes 
forth 
Each minute some. \_Exeunt, 



io6 Antony and Cleopatra [Act ill 

Scene VIII. A Plain near Actium 
Enter C^^isar, and Taurus, with his army^ inarching 

Ccesar. Taurus ! 

Taurus. My lord! 

Ccesar. Strike not by land j keep whole ; provoke 
not battle, 
Till we have done at sea. Do not exceed 
The prescript of this scroll ; our fortune lies 
Upon this jump. \_Exeunt. 

Scene IX. Another Part of the Plain 

Enter Antony and Enobarbus 

Antony. Set we our squadrons on yond side o' the hill 
In eye of Caesar's battle, from which place 
We may the number of the ships behold 
And so proceed accordingly. \_Exeunt. 

Scene X. Another Part of the Plain 

Canidius marcheth with his land army one way over the 
stage ; aiid Taurus, the lieutenant of Caesar, the other 
way. After their going in, is heard the noise of a sea- 
fight 

Alarum. Enter Enobarbus 

Enobarbus. Naught, naught, all naught ! I can be- 
hold no longer. 
The Antoniad, the Egyptian admiral, 



I 



Scene X] Antony and Cleopatra 107 

With all their sixty, fly and turn the rudder ; 
To see 't mine eyes are blasted. 

Enter Scarus 

Scarus. Gods and goddesses, 

A]l the whole synod of them ! 

Enobarbus. What 's thy passion? 

Scarus. The greater cantle of the world is lost 
With very ignorance ; we have kiss'd away 
Kingdoms and provinces. 

Enobarbus. How appears the fight ? 

Scarus. On our side like the token'd pestilence, 
Where death is sure. Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt, — 10 
Whom leprosy o'ertake ! — "i*^ tlie midst o' the fight, 
When vantage like a pair of twins appear'd 
Both as the same, or rather ours the elder, 
The brize upon her, like a cow in June, 
Hoists sails and flies. 

Enobarbus. That I beheld ; 

Mine eyes did sicken at the sight and could not 
Endure a further view. 

Scarus. She once being loof'd. 

The noble ruin of her magic, Antony, 
Claps on his sea-wing, and, like a doting mallard, 
Leaving the fight in height, flies after her. 20 

I never saw an action of such shame ; 
Experience, manhood, honour, ne'er before 
Did violate so itself. 

Enobarbus. Alack, alack ! 



io8 Antony and Cleopatra [Act ill 

Enter Canidius 

Canidius. Our fortune on the sea is out of breath 
And sinks most lamentably. Had our general 
Been what he knew himself, it had gone well. 
O, he has given example for our flight 
Most grossly by his own ! 

Enobarbus. Ay, are you thereabouts? 

Why, then, good night indeed. 

Canidius. Toward Peloponnesus are they fled. 

Scarus. 'Tis easy to 't ; and there I will attend 
What further comes. 

Canidius. To Caesar will I render 

My legions and my horse ; six kings already 
Show me the way of yielding. 

Enobarbus. I '11 yet follow 

The wounded chance of Antony, though my reason 
Sits in the wind against me. \_Exeunt. 

Scene XI. Alexandria. Cleopatra's Palace 
Enter Antony with Attendants 

Antony. Hark ! the land bids me tread no more upon 't ; 
It is asham'd to bear me ! — Friends, come hither ; 
I am so lated in the world that I 
Have lost ray way for ever. — I have a ship 
Laden with gold ; take that, divide it ; fly, 
And make your peace with Caesar. 

All. Fly ! not we. 



Scene XI] Antony and Cleopatra 109 

Antony. I have fled myself and have instructed cowards 
To run and show their shoulders. — P'riends, be gone ; 
I have myself resolv'd upon a course 
Which has no need of you ; be gone. 10 

My treasure 's in the harbour, take it. — O, 
I follow'd that I blush to look upon ; 
My very hairs do mutiny, for the white 
Reprove the brown for rashness, and they them 
For fear and doting. — Friends, be gone ; you shall 
Have letters from me to some friends that will 
Sweep your way for you. Pray you, look not sad, 
Nor make replies of loathness. Take the hint 
Which my despair proclaims ; let that be left 
Which leaves itself; to the sea-side straightway. 20 

I will possess you of that ship and treasure. 
Leave me, I pray, a Httle ; pray you now. — 
Nay, do so ; for indeed I have lost command. 
Therefore I pray you. I '11 see you by and by. 

\Sits down. 

Enter Cleopatra led by Charmian and Iras ; Eros 

following 

Eros. Nay, gentle madam, to him, comfort him. 

Iras. Do, most dear queen. 

Charmian. Do ! why, what else? 

Cleopatra. Let me sit down. O Juno ! 

Anto7iy. No, no, no, no, no. 

Eros. See you here, sir? 30 

Antony. O fie, fie, fie ! 



no Antony and Cleopatra [Act iii 

Charmian. Madam ! 

Iras. Madam, O good empress ! 

Eros. Sir, sir, — 

Antony. Yes, my lord, yes ; he at Philippi kept 
His sword e'en like a dancer, while I struck 
The lean and wrinkled Cassius, and 't was I 
That the mad Brutus ended ; he alone 
Dealt on lieutenantry and no practice had 
In the brave squares of war; yet now — No matter. 40 

Cleopatra. Ah, stand by ! 

Eros. The queen, my lord, the queen. 

Iras. Go to him, madam, speak to him ; 
He is unqualitied with very shame. 

Cleopatra. Well then, sustain me ; — O ! 

Eros. Most noble sir, arise ; the queen approaches. 
Her head 's declin'd, and death will seize her but 
Your comfort makes the rescue. 

Antony. I have offended reputation, 
A most unnoble swerving. 

Eros. Sir, the queen. 50 

Antony. O, whither hast thou led me, Egypt? See 
How I convey my shame out of thine eyes 
By looking back what I had left behind 
Stroy'd in dishonour. 

Cleopatra. O my lord, my lord, ■ 

Forgive my fearful sails ! I little thought 
You would have follow' d. 

Antony. Egypt, thou knew'st too well 

My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings. 



11 



Scene XII] Antony and Cleopatra iii 

And thou shouldst tow me after ; o'er my spirit 

Thy full supremacy thou knew'st, and that 

Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods 60 

Command me. 

Cleopatra. O, my pardon ! 

Antony. Now I must 

To the young man send humble treaties, dodge 
And palter in the shifts of lowness, who 
With half the bulk o' the world play'd as I pleas'd, 
Making and marring fortunes. You did know 
How much you were my conqueror, and that 
My sword, made weak by my affection, would 
Obey it on all cause. 

Cleopatra. Pardon, pardon ! 

Antony. Fall not a tear, I say ; one of them rates 
All that is won and lost. Give me a kiss ; 70 

Even this repays me. — We sent our schoolmaster ; 
Is he come back ? — Love, I am full of lead. — 
Some wine, within there, and our viands ! — Fortune 

knows 
We scorn her most when most she offers blows. 

[^Exeunt. 

Scene XII. Egypt. CcEsar's Camp 

Enter Cesar, Dolabella, Thyreus, with others 

Ccesar. Let him appear that 's come from An- 
tony. — 
Know you him? 



112 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iii 

Dolabella. Caesar, 't is his schoolmaster; 

An argument that he is pluck'd, when hither 
He sends so poor a pinion of his wing, 
Which had superfluous kings for messengers 
Not many moons gone by. 

Enter Euphronius, Ambassador from Antony 

1 
CcEsar. Approach, and speak. 

Euphronius. Such as I am, I come from Antony; 
I was of late as petty to his ends 
As is the morn-dew on the myrtle-leaf 
To his grand sea. 

Ccesar. Be 't so; declare thine office. lo 

Euphronius. Lord of his fortunes he salutes thee, 
and 
Requires to live in Egypt, which not granted, 
He lessens his requests and to thee sues 
To let him breathe between the heavens and earth, 
A private man in Athens ; this for him. 
Next, Cleopatra does confess thy greatness. 
Submits her to thy might, and of thee craves 
The circle of the Ptolemies for her heirs. 
Now hazarded to thy grace. 

CcBsar. For Antony, 

I have no ears to his request. The queen 20 

Of audience nor desire shall fail, so she 
From Egypt drive her all-disgraced friend, 
Or take his hfe there ; this if she perform. 
She shall not sue unheard. So to them both. 



Scene XIII] Antony and Cleopatra 1 13 

Euphronius, Fortune pursue thee ! 

CcBsar, Bring him through the bands. — 

\_Exit Euphr'onius, 
[ To Thy7'eiis~\ To try thy eloquence, now 't is time ; 

dispatch. 
From Antony win Cleopatra ; promise, 
And in our name, what she requires ; add more, 
From thine invention, offers. Women are not 
In their best fortunes strong, but want will perjure 30 
The ne'er-touch'd vestal. Try thy cunning, Thyreus ; 
Make thine own edict for thy pains, which we 
Will answer as a law. 

Thy7'eus. Caesar, I go. 

Ccesar. Observe how Antony becomes his flaw, 
And what thou think'st his very action speaks 
In every power that moves. 

Thyreus. Caesar, I shall. [^Exeunt 



Scene XIII. Alexandria. Cleopatra' s Palace 
Enter Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Charmian, and Iras 

C/eopatra. What shall we do, Enobarbus? 

Enobarbus. Think and die. 

Cleopatra. Is Antony or we in fault for this ? 

Enobarbus. Antony only, that would make his will 
Lord of his reason. What though you fled 
From that great face of war, whose several ranges 
Frighted each other? why should he follow? 

ANTONY — 8 



114 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iii 

The itch of his affection should not then 

Have nick'd his captainship ; at such a point, 

When half to half the world oppos'd, he being 

The mered question. 'T was a shame no less lo 

Than was his loss, to course your flying flags 

And leave his navy gazing. 

Cleopatra. Prithee, peace. 

Enter Antony with Euphronius the Ambassador 

Antony. Is that his answer? 

Euphrofiius. Ay, my lord. 

Antony. The queen shall then have courtesy, so she 
Will yield us up. 

Euphronius. He says so. 

Antony. Let her know 't. — 

To the boy Caesar send this grizzled head, 
And he will fill thy wishes to the brim 
With principalities. 

Cleopatra. That head, my lord? 

Antony. To him again. Tell him he wears the rose 20 
Of youth upon him, from which the world should note 
Something particular ; his coin, ships, legions. 
May be a coward's, whose ministers would prevail 
Under the service of a child as soon 
As i' the command of Caesar. I dare him therefore 
To lay his gay comparisons apart. 
And answer me decHn'd, sword against sword. 
Ourselves alone. I '11 write it ; follow me. 

\_Exeunt Antony and Euphronius. 



Scene XIII] Antony and Cleopatra 115 

Enobarbus. \_Aside\ Yes, like enough, high-battled 
Caesar will 
Unstate his happiness and be stag'd to the show 30 

Against a sworder ! I see men's judgments are 
A parcel of their fortunes, and things outward 
Do draw the inward quality after them, 
To suffer all alike. That he should dream, 
Knowing all measures, the full Caesar will 
Answer his emptiness ! — Caesar, thou hast subdued 
His judgment too. 

Enter an Attendant 

Attendant. A messenger from Caesar. 

Cleopatra. What, no more ceremony? — See, my 
women ! — 
Against the blown rose may they stop their nose 
That kneel'd unto the buds. — Admit him, sir. 40 

\_Exit Attendant. 

Enobarbus. \_Aside'] Mine honesty and I begin to square. 
The loyalty well held to fools does make 
Our faith mere folly ; yet he that can endure 
To follow with allegiance a fallen lord 
Does conquer him that did his master conquer 
And earns a place i' the story. 

Enter Thyreus 

Cleopatra. Caesar's will? 

Thyreus. Hear it apart. 

Cleopatra. None but friends ; say boldly. 

Thyreus. So, haply, are they friends to Antony. 



ii6 Antony and Cleopatra [Act ill 

Enobarbus. He needs as many, sir, as Caesar has, 
Or needs not us. If Caesar please, our master 50 

Will leap to be his friend ; for us, you know 
Whose he is we are, and that is Caesar's. 

Thy reus. So. — 

Thus then, thou most renown'd : Caesar entreats, 
Not to consider in what case thou stand'st 
Further than he is Caesar. 

Cleopatra. Go on; right royal. 

Thyreus. He knows that you embrace not Antony 
As you did love, but as you fear'd him. 

Cleopatra. O ! 

Thyreus. The scars upon your honour, therefore, 
he 
Does pity, as constrained blemishes, 
Not as deserv'd. 

Cleopatra. He is a god and knows 

What is most right ; mine honour was not yielded, 
But conquer'd merely. 

Enobarbus. \_Aside'\ To be sure of that, 
I will ask Antony.^-^ — Sir, sir, thou art so leaky 
That we must leave thee to thy sinking, for 
Thy dearest quit thee. \_Exit. 

Thyreus. Shall I say to Caesar 

What you require of him ? for he partly begs 
To be desir'd to give. It much would please him 
That of his fortunes you should make a staff 
To lean upon ; but it would warm his spirits 
To hear from me you had left Antony 70 




Scene XIII] Antony and Cleopatra 117 

And put yourself under his shroud, 
The universal landlord. 

Cleopatra. What 's your name ? 

Thyreus. My name is Thyreus. 

Cleopatra. Most kind messenger, 

Say to great Csesar this : in deputation 
I kiss his conquering hand ; tell him, I am prompt 
To lay my crown at 's feet and there to kneel ; 
Tell him, from his all-obeying breath I hear 
The doom of Egypt. 

Thyreus. 'T is your noblest course. 

Wisdom and fortune combating together, 
If that the former dare but what it can, 80 

No chance may shake it. Give me grace to lay 
My duty on your hand. 

Cleopatra. Your Caesar's father oft, 

When he hath mus'd of taking kingdoms in, 
Bestow'd his Hps on that unworthy place, 
As it rain'd kisses. 

Re-enter Antony and Enobarbus 

Antony. Favours, by Jove that thunders ! — 

What art thou, fellow? 

Thyreus. One that but performs 

The bidding of the fullest man, and worthiest 
To have command obey'd. 

Enobarbics. \_Aside~\ You will be whipp'd. 

Antony. Approach, there ! — Ah, you kite ! — Now, 
gods and devils ! 



1 1 8 Antony and Cleopatra [Act III 

Authority melts from me ; of late, when I cried ' Ho ! ' 9c 
Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth 
And cry ' Your will ? ' Have you no ears ? I am 
Antony yet. — 

Enter Attendants 

Take hence this Jack, and whip him. 

Enobarbus. \_Aside'\ 'T is better playing with a lion's 
whelp 
Than with an old one dying. 

Antony. Moon and stars ! 

Whip him. — Were 't twenty of the greatest tributaries 
That do acknowledge Caesar, should I find them 
So saucy with the hand of she here, — what 's her name 
Since she was Cleopatra? — Whip him, fellows, 
Till, like a boy, you see him cringe his face 100 

And whine aloud for mercy. Take him hence. 

Thyreus. Mark Antony ! 

Antony. Tug him away ; being whipp'd. 

Bring him again ; the Jack of Csesar's shall 
Bear us an errand to him. — 

\_Exeunt Attendants with Thyreus. 
You were half blasted ere I knew you ; ha ! 
Have I my pillow left unpress'd in Rome, 
Forborne the getting of a lawful race. 
And by a gem of women, to be abus'd 
By one that looks on feeders? 

Cleopatra. Good my lord, — 

Antony. You have been a boggier ever ; no 



II 



Scene XIII] Antony and Cleopatra 119 

But when we in our viciousness grow hard — 
O misery on 't ! — the wise gods seel our eyes, 
In our own filth drop our clear judgments, make us 
Adore our errors, laugh at 's while we strut 
To our confusion. 

Cleopatra. O, is 't come to this ? 

Afttony. I found you as a morsel cold upon 
Dead Caesar's trencher ; nay, you were a fragment 
Of Cneius Pompey's, besides what hotter hours, 
Unregister'd in vulgar fame, you have 
Luxuriously pick'd out ; for, I am sure, 120 

Though you can guess what temperance should be, 
You know not what it is. 

Cleopatra. Wherefore is this ? 

Antony. To let a fellow that will take rewards 
And say '■ God quit you ! ' be familiar with 
My playfellow, your hand, this kingly seal 
And pHghter of high hearts ! — O, that I were 
Upon the hill of Basan, to outroar 
The horned herd ! for I have savage cause 
And, to proclaim it civilly, were like 
A halter'd neck which does the hangman thank 130 

For being yare about him. — 

Re-enter Attendants with Thyreus 

Is he whipp'd? 
I Attendant. Soundly, my lord. 

Antony. Cried he? and begg'd a' pardon? 

I Attendant. He did ask favour. 



I20 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iii 

Antony. If that thy father live, let him repent 
Thou wast not made his daughter ; and be thou sorry 
To follow Caesar in his triumph since 
Thou hast been whipp'd for following him. Henceforth 
The white hand of a lady fever thee, 
Shake thou to look on 't. — Get thee back to Caesar, 
Tell him thy entertainment ; look thou say 140 

He makes me angry with him, for he seems 
Proud and disdainful, harping on what I am. 
Not what he knew I was. He makes me angry ; 
And at this time most easy 't is to do 't, 
When my good stars that were my former guides 
Have empty left their orbs and shot their fires 
Into the abysm of hell. If he mishke 
My speech and what is done, tell him he has 
Hipparchus, my enfranchis'd bondman, whom 
He may at pleasure whip, or hang, or torture, 150 

As he shall like, to quit me. Urge it thou ; 
Hence with thy stripes, begone ! \_Exit Thyreus. 

Cleopatra. Have you done yet? 

Antony. Alack, our terrene moon 

Is now eclips'd, and it portends alone 
The fall of Antony ! 

Cleopatra. I must stay his time. 

Antony. To flatter Caesar, would you mingle eyes 
With one that ties his points? 

Cleopatra. Not know me yet? 

Antony. Cold-hearted toward me? 

Cleopatra. Ah, dear, if I be so, 



Scene xiiij Antony and Cleopatra 121 

From my cold heart let heaven engender hail, 

And poison it in the source, and the first stone 160 

Drop in my neck ; as it determines, so 

Dissolve my life ! The next Csesarion smite ! 

Till by degrees the memory of my womb, 

Together with my brave Egyptians all, 

By the discandying of this pelleted storm. 

Lie graveless, till the flies and gnats of Nile 

Have buried them for prey ! 

Antony. I am satisfied. 

Caesar sits down in Alexandria, where 
I will oppose his fate. Our force by land 
Hath nobly held ; our sever 'd navy too 170 

Have knit again and fleet, threatening most sea-like. 
Where hast thou been, my heart ? — Dost thou hear, lady ? 
If from the field I shall return once more 
To kiss these Hps, I will appear in blood; 
I and my sword wiU earn our chronicle. 
There 's hope in 't yet. 

Cleopatra. That 's my brave lord ! 

Antony. I will be treble-sinew'd, hearted, breath'd. 
And fight maliciously ; for when mine hours 
Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives 180 

Of me for jests, but now I '11 set my teeth 
And send to darkness all that stop me. — Come, 
Let 's have one other gaudy night. — Call to me 
All my sad captains ; fill our bowls once more ; 
Let 's mock the midnight bell. 

Cleopatra. It is my birthday ; 



122 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iii 

I had thought to have held it poor, but, since ray lord 
Is Antony again, I will be Cleopatra. 

Antony. We will yet do well. 

Cleopatra. Call all his noble captains to my lord. 

Antony. Do so, we '11 speak to them ; and to-night I '11 
force 190 

The wine peep through their scars. — Come on, my queen ; 
There 's sap in 't yet. The next time I do fight 
I '11 make Death love me, for I will contend 
Even with his pestilent scythe. 

\_Exeunt all but Enobarbus. 

Enobarbus. Now he '11 outstare the lightning. To be 
furious 
Is to be frighted out of fear, and in that mood 
The dove will peck the estridge ; and I see still, 
A diminution in our captain's brain 
Restores his heart ; when valour preys on reason. 
It eats the sword it fights with. I will seek 200 

Some way to leave him. \_Exit. 



1 




Old Egyptian Palace 



ACT IV 

Scene I. Before Alexandria. Ccesar's Camp 

Enter C^sar, Agrippa, and M^cenas, with his Army ; 
C^SAR reading a letter 

Ccesar. He calls me boy, and chides as he had power 
To beat me out of Egypt ; my messenger 
He hath whipp'd with rods, dares me to personal combat, 
Csesar to Antony. Let the old ruffian know 
I have many other ways to die, meantime 
Laugh at his challenge. 

McBcenas. Caesar must think, 

When one so great begins to rage, he 's hunted 
Even to falling. Give him no breath, but now 
Make boot of his distraction ; never anger 
Made good guard for itself. 

123 



124 Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 

Ccesar. Let our best heads . lo 

Know that to-morrow the last of many battles 
We mean to fight. Within our files there are, 
Of those that serv'd Mark Antony but late, 
Enough to fetch him in. See it done ; 
And feast the army ; we have store to do 't 
And they have earn'd the waste. Poor Antony ! \_Exeunt. 

Scene II. Alexandria. Cleopatra^ s Palace 

-Enter Antony, Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Charmian, Iras, 
Alexas, with others 

Antony, He will not fight with me, Domitius. 

Enobarbus. No. 

Antony. Why should he not ? 

Enobarbus. He thinks, being twenty times of better 
fortune. 
He is twenty men to one. 

Antony. To-morrow, soldier, 

By sea and land I '11 fight ; or I will live. 
Or bathe my dying honour in the blood 
Shall make it hve again. Woo't thou fight well ? 

Enobarbus. I '11 strike, and cry ' Take all.' 

Antony. Well said ; come on. ■ — 

Call forth my household servants ; let 's to-night 
Be bounteous at our meal. — 

Enter three or four Servitors 

Give me thy hand, lo 

Thou hast been rightly honest ; — so hast thou ; — 



Scene IIJ Antony and Cleopatra 125 

Thou, — and thou, — and thou ; — you have serv'd me 

well, 
And kings have been your fellows. 

Cleopatra. \^Aside to Enobarbtts~\ What means this? 

Enobarbus. \Aside to Ckopatra~\ 'T is one of those 
odd tricks which sorrow shoots 
Out of the mind. 

Antony. And thou art honest too. ■ — 

I wish I could be made so many men, 
And all of you clapp'd up together in 
An Antony, that I might do you service 
So good as you have done. 

All. The gods forbid ! 

Antony. Well, my good fellows, wait on me to- 
night ; 20 
Scant not my cups, and make as much of me 
As when my empire was your fellow too 
And suffer'd my command. 

Cleopatra. \_Aside to Enobarbus'] What does he mean ? 

Enobarbus. [Aside to Cleopatra] To make his followers 
weep. 

Antony. Tend me to-night; 

May be it is the period of your duty. 
Haply you not shall see me more, or if, 
A mangled shadow ; perchance to-morrow 
You '11 serve another master. I look on you 
As one that takes his leave. Mine honest friends, 
I turn you not away ; but, like a master 30 

Married to your good service, stay till death. 



126 



Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 



Tend me to-night two hours, I ask no more, 
And the gods yield you for 't ! 
Enobarbus. 



What mean you, sir, 
Look, they weep j 
For shame, 



To give them this discomfort? 
And I, an ass, am onion-eyed. 
Transform us not to women. 

Antony. Ho, ho, ho ! 

Now the witch take me if I meant it thus ! 
Grace grow where those drops fall ! My hearty friends. 
You take me in too dolorous a sense ; 
For I spake to you for your comfort, did desire you 40 
To burn this night with torches. Know, my hearts 
I hope well of to-morrow, and will lead you 
Where rather I '11 expect victorious hfe 
Than death and honour. Let 's to supper, come, 
And drown consideration. \_Exeunt. 

Scene III. The Satne. Before the Palace 
Enter two Soldiers to their guard 

1 Soldier. Brother, good night ; to-morrow is the day. 

2 Soldier. It will determine one way ; fare you well. 
Heard you of nothing strange about the streets? 



1 Soldier. Nothing. What news? 

2 Soldier. Belike 't is but a rumour. 

you. 
I Soldier. 



Good night to 



Well, sir, good night. 
Enter two other Soldiers 
2 Soldier. Soldiers, have careful watch. 



Scene III] ^ Antony and Cleopatra 127 

3 Soldier. And you. Good night, good night. 

\_They place themselves in every corner of the stage, 

4 Soldier. Here we ; and if to-morrow 

Our navy thrive, I have an absolute hope 10 

Our landmen will stand up. 

3 Soldier. 'T is a brave army 
And full of purpose. 

\_Music of the hautboys as under the stage. 

4 Soldier. Peace ! what noise ? 

1 Soldier. List, list ! 

2 Soldier. Hark ! 

I Soldier. Music i' the air. 

3 Soldier. Under the earth. 

4 Soldier. It signs well, does it not? 

3 Soldier. No. 

1 Soldier. Peace, I say ! 
What should this mean? 

2 Soldier. 'T is the god Hercules, whom Antony lov'd. 
Now leaves him. 

1 Soldier. Walk ; let 's see if other watchmen 
Do hear what we do. \They advance to a7iother post. 

2 Soldier. How now, masters ! 

AIL \_Speaking together'] How now ! 

How now ! do you hear this ? 

I Soldier. Ay ; is 't not strange ? 

3 Soldier. Do you hear, masters? do you hear? 20 
I Soldier. Follow the noise so far as we have quarter ; 

Let 's see how it will give off. 

All, Content. 'T is strange. \_Exeunt. 



128 Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 



Scene IV. The Same. A Room in the Palace 

Enter Antony and Cleopatra, Charmian, and others 

attending 

Antony, Eros ! mine armour, Eros ! 
Cleopatra. Sleep a little. 

Antony. No, my chuck. — Eros, come ; mine armour, 
Eros ! 

Enter Eros ivith armour 

Come, good fellow, put mine iron on. — 
If fortune be not ours to-day, it is 
Because we brave her. — - Come. 

Cleopatra. Nay, I '11 help too. 

What 's this for ? 

Antony. Ah, let be, let be ! thou art 

The armourer of my heart. False, false ; this, this. 

Cleopatra. Sooth, la, I '11 help ; thus it must be. 

Antony. Well, well ; 

We shall thrive now. — Seest thou, my good fellow ? 
Go put on thy defences. 

Eros. Briefly, sir. lo 

Cleopatra, Is not this buckled well? 

Antony. Rarely, rarely ; 

He that unbuckles this till we do please 
To daft' 't for our repose shall hear a storm. — 
Thou fumblest, Eros, and my queen 's a squire 
More tight at this than thou ; dispatch — O love, 



Scene IV] Antony and Cleopatra 129 

That thou couldst see my wars to-day, and knew'st 
The royal occupation ! thou shouldst see 
A workman in 't. — 

Enter an armed Soldier 

Good morrow to thee ; welcome ! 
Thou look'st like him that knows a warlike charge. 
To business that we love we rise betime 20 

And go to 't with delight. 

Soldier. A thousand, sir, 

Early though 't be, have on their riveted trim 
And at the port expect you. [_Shout. Trumpets flourisli. 

Enter Captains and Soldiers 

Captain. The morn is fair. — Good morrow, general. 

All. Good morrow, general. 

Antotiy. 'T is well blown, lads. 

This morning, like the spirit of a youth 
That means to be of note, begins betimes. — 
So, so; come, give me that ; this way ; well said. 
Fare thee well, dame, whate'er becomes of me ; 
This is a soldier's kiss. Rebukable \_Kisses her. 

And worthy shameful check it were to stand 31 

On more mechanic compHment ; I '11 leave thee 
Now, Hke a man of steel. — You that will fight, 
Follow me close; I '11 bring you to 't. — Adieu. 

\_Exeiint Antony, Ei'os, Captains, and Soldiers. 

Charmian. Please you, retire to your chamber. 

Cleopatra. Lead me. 

He goes forth gallantly. That he and Caesar might 

ANTONY — 9 



ijo Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 

Determine this great war in single fight ! 

Then, Antony, — but now — Well, on. [_Exeunt.\ 



Scene V. Alexandria, Antonfs Camp 

Trumpets sound. Enter Antony and Eros ; a Soldier 
meeting them 

Soldier. The gods make this a happy day to Antony ! 

Antony. Would thou and those thy scars had once 
prevail' d 
To make me fight at land ! 

Soldier. Hadst thou done so, 

The kings that have revolted, and the soldier 
That has this morning left thee, would have still 
Follow'd thy heels. 

Antony. Who 's gone this morning? 

Soldier. Who ! 

One ever near thee ; call for Enobarbus, 
He shall not hear thee, or from Csesar's camp 
Say ' I am none of thine.' 

Antony. What say'st thou? 

Soldier. Sir, 

He is with Caesar. 

Eros. Sir, his chests and treasure lo 

He has not with him. 

Antony. Is he gone ? 

Soldier. Most certain. 

Antony. Go, Eros, send his treasure after ; do it. 



Scene VI] Antony and Cleopatra 131 

Detain no jot, I charge thee. Write to him — 
I will subscribe — gentle adieus and greetings ; 
Say that I wish he never find more cause 
To change a master. — O, my fortunes have 
Corrupted honest men ! — Dispatch. — Enobarbus ! 

[^Exeunt. 

Scene VI. Alexandria. CcEsar's Camp 

Flourish. Enter C^sar, Agrippa, ivith Enobarbus, and 

others 

CcEsar, Go forth, Agrippa, and begin the fight. 
Our will is Antony be took alive ; 
Make it so known. 

Agrippa. Csesar, I shall. \_Exit. 

CcBsar. The time of universal peace is near ; 
Prove this a prosperous day, the three-nook 'd world 
Shall bear the olive freely. 

Enter a Messenger 

Messenger. Antony 

Is come into the field. 

CcEsar. Go charge Agrippa 

Plant those that have revolted in the van. 
That Antony may seem to spend his fury 10 

Upon himself. \_Exeunt all but Enobarbus. 

Enobarbus. Alexas did revolt and went to Jewry 
On affairs of Antony, there did persuade 
Great Herod to incline himself to Caesar, 



132 Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 

And leave his master Antony ; for this pains 
Caesar hath hang'd him. Canidius and the rest 
That fell away have entertainment, but 
No honourable trust. I have done ill, 
Of which I do accuse myself so sorely 
That I will joy no more. 

Enter a Soldier of CcBsar^s 

Soldier. Enobarbus, Antony 20 

Hath after thee sent all thy treasure, with 
His bounty overplus ; the messenger 
Came on my guard and at thy tent is now 
Unloading of his mules. 

Ejiobarbus. I give it you. 

Soldier. Mock not, Enobarbus ; 
I tell you true. Best you safd the bringer 
Out of the host ; I must attend mine office. 
Or would have done 't myself. Your emperor 
Continues still a Jove. \^Exif. 

Enobarbus. I am alone the villain of the earth, 30 

And feel I am so most. — O Antony, 
Thou mine of bounty, how wouldst thou have paid 
My better service when my turpitude 
Thou dost so crown with gold ! This blows my heart ; 
If swift thought break it not, a swifter mean 
Shall outstrike thought, but thought will do 't, I feel. 
I fight against thee ! — No ! I will go seek 
Some ditch wherein to die ; the foul'st best fits 
My latter part of life. \_Exit. 



Scene VII] Antony and Cleopatra 133 



Scene VII. Field of Battle between the Camps 

Alarum. Drums and trumpets. Enter Agrippa and 

others 

Agrippa. Retire, we have engag'd ourselves too far. 
Caesar himself has work, and our oppression 
Exceeds what we expected. \_Exeunt. 

Alarum. Enter Antony, and Scarus wounded 

Scarus. O my brave emperor, this is fought indeed ! 
Had we done so at first, we had droven them home 
With clouts about their heads. 

A?itoiiy. Thou bleed'st apace. 

Sca?'us. I had a wound here that was like a T, 
But now 't is made an H. 

Antony. They do retire. 

Scarus. We '11 beat 'em into bench-holes ; I have yet 
Room for six scotches more. 10 

Enter Eros 

Eros. They are beaten, sir, and our advantage serves 
For a fair victory. 

Scarus. Let us score their backs, 

And snatch 'em up, as we take hares, behind ; 
'T is sport to maul a runner. 

Antojiy. I will reward thee 

Once for thy sprightly comfort and tenfold 
For thy good valour. Come thee on. 

Scarus. I '11 halt after. \_Exeunt 



134 Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 



Scene VIII. Under the Walls of Alexandria 

Alarum. Enter Antony, in a march; Scarus, with 

others 

Antony. We have beat him to his camp ; run one 

before 
And let the queen know of our gests. — To-morrow, 
Before the sun shall see 's, we '11 spill the blood 
That has to-day escap'd. I thank you all, 
For doughty-handed are you and have fought 
Not as you serv'd the cause, but as 't had been 
Each man's like mine ; you have shown all Hectors. 
Enter the city, clip your wives, your friends. 
Tell them your feats, whilst they with joyful tears 
Wash the congealment from your wounds and kiss lo 

The honour'd gashes whole. — \_To Seams'] Give me thy 

hand. 

Enter Cleopatra, attended 

To this great fairy I '11 commend thy acts. 
Make her thanks bless thee. — \^To Cleopatra] O thou 
day o' the world, "" ~ 

Chain mine arm'd neck ; leap thou, attire and all. 
Through proof of harness to my heart and there 
Ride on the pants triumphing ! 

Cleopatra. Lord of lords ! 

O infinite virtue, com'st thou smiling from 
The world's great snare uncaught? 






Scene IX] Antony and Cleopatra 135 

Antony. ^ My nightingale, 

We have beat them to their beds. What, girl ! though 

grey 
Do something mingle with our younger brown, yet ha' we 
A brain that nourishes our nerves and can 21 

Get goal for goal of youth. Behold this man ; 
Commend unto his lips thy favouring hand. — 
Kiss it, my warrior. — He hath fought to-day 
As if a god in hate of mankind had 
Destroy'd in such a shape. 

Cleopatra. I '11 give thee, friend, 

An armour all of gold ; it was a king's. 

Antony. He has deserv'd it, were it carbuncled 
Like holy Phoebus' car. — Give me thy hand. 
Through Alexandria make a jolly march ; 30 

Bear our hack'd targets like the men that owe them. 
Had our great palace the capacity 
To camp this host, we all would sup together 
And drink carouses to the next day's fate. 
Which promises royal peril. — Trumpeters, 
With brazen din blast you the city's ear ; 
Make mingle with our rattling tabourines. 
That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together. 
Applauding our approach. \_Exeunt. 

Scene IX. Ccesar's Camp 

Sentinels at their post 

I Soldier. If we be not reliev'd within this hour. 
We must return to the court of guard. The night 



136 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iv 

Is shiny, and they say we shall embattle 
By the second hour i' the morn. 

2 Soldier. This last day was 
A shrewd one to 's. 

Enter Enobarbus 
Enobarbus. O, bear me witness, night, — 

3 Soldier. What man is this? 

2 Soldier. Stand close, and list him. 
Enobarbus. Be witness to me, O thou blessed moon, 

When men revolted shall upon record 
Bear hateful memory, poor Enobarbus did 
Before thy face repent ! 

1 Soldier, Enobarbus ! 

3 Soldier. Peace ! 
Hark further. 

Enobarbus. O sovereign mistress of true melancholy. 
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me. 
That life, a very rebel to my will, 
May hang no longer on me ; throw my heart 
Against the flint and hardness of my fault. 
Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder, 
And finish all foul thoughts. — O Antony, 
Nobler than my revolt is infamous. 

Forgive me in thine own particular ; 20 

But let the world rank me in register 
A master-leaver and a fugitive. 
O Antony ! O Antony ! \^Dies. 

2 Soldier. Let 's speak 
To him. 







Scene xj Antony and Cleopatra 137 

I Soldier. Let 's hear him, for the things he speaks 
May concern C?esar. 

3 Soldier. Let 's do so. But he sleeps. 

1 Soldier. Swoons rather, for so bad a prayer as his 
Was never yet for sleep. 

2 Soldier. Go we to him. 

3 Soldier. Awake, sir, awake ! speak to us. 

2 Soldier. Hear you, sir ? 
I Soldier. The hand of death hath raught him. \_Drujns 

afar off.'\ Hark ! the drums 
Demurely wake the sleepers. Let us bear him 30 

To the court of guard ; he is of note. Our hour 
Is fully out. 

3 Soldier. Come on, then ; he may recover yet. 

\Exeu7it with the body. 

Scene X. Between the two Cajjips 
Enter Antony and Scarus, with their Army 

Antony. Their preparation is to-day by sea; 
We please them not by land. 

Scarus. For both, my lord. 

Antony. I would they 'd fight i' the fire or i' the air ; 
We 'd fight there too. But this it is : our foot 
Upon the hills adjoining to the city 
Shall stay with us. — Order for sea is given ; 
They have put forth the haven. — Forward, now, 
Where their appointment we may best discover, 
And look on their endeavour. \_Exeunt, 



138 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iv 

Scene XI. Another Part of the Same 

Enter C^sar, and his Army 

CcBsar, But being charg'd, we will be still by land, 
Which, as I take 't, we shall ; for his best force 
Is forth to man his galleys. To the vales, 
And hold our best advantage ! \_Exeunt. 

Scene XII. Another Part of the Same 
I Enter Antony and Scarus 

Antony. Yet they are not join'd. Where yond pine 

doeSi stand, 

I shall discover all ; I '11 bring thee word 

Straight hoW 't is like to go. \_Exit. 

Scarus.] Swallows have built 

In Cleopatra's sails their nests ; the augurers 
Say they know not, they cannot tell, — look grimly 
And dare not speak their knowledge. Antony 
Is valiant, and dejected ; and, by starts. 
His fretted fortunes give him hope and fear 
Of what he has and has not. 

\_Alarum afar off, as at a sea-fight. 

Re-enter Antony 

Antony. All is lost ; 

This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me. 10 

My fleet hath yielded to the foe ; and yonder 
They cast their caps up and carouse together 



Scene XII] Antony and Cleopatra 139 

Like friends long lost. — Triple-turn'd whore ! 't is thou 

Hast sold me to this novice, and my heart 

Makes only wars on thee. — Bid them all fly; 

For when I am reveng'd upon my charm, 

I have done all. — Bid them all fly ; begone. — 

\_Exil Scarus. 
O sun, thy uprise shall I see no more ! 
Fortune and Antony part here ; even here 
Do we shake hands. — All come to this ? — The hearts 20 
That spaniell'd me at heels, to whom I gave 
Their wishes, do discandy, melt their sweets 
On blossoming Caesar ; and this pine is bark'd 
That overtopp'd them all. Betray'd I am. 
O this false soul of Egypt ! this grave charm, — 
Whose eye beck'd forth my wars and call'd them home. 
Whose bosom was my crownet, my chief end, — 
Like a right gypsy,' hath, at fast and loose, 
Beguil'd me to the very heart of loss. — 
What, Eros, Eros ! — 

Enter Cleopatra 

Ah, thou spell ! Avaunt ! 30 

Cleopatra. Why is my lord enrag'd against his love ? 
Antony. Vanish, or I shall give thee thy deserving 
And blemish Caesar's triumph. Let him take thee 
And hoist thee up to the shouting plebeians. 
Follow his chariot, like the greatest spot 
Of all thy sex; most monster-Hke, be shown 
For poor'st diminutives, for dolts ; and let 



14O Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 

Patient Octavia plough thy visage up 

With her prepared nails. \_Exit Cleopatra.'] 'T is well ii 
thou 'rt gone, * 

If it be well to live ; but better 't were 40 

Thou fell'st into my fury, for one death 
Might have prevented many. — Eros, ho ! — 
The shirt of Nessus is upon me ; teach me, 
Alcides, thou mine ancestor, thy rage ; 
Let me lodge Lichas on the horns o' the moon. 
And with those hands that grasp'd the heaviest club 
Subdue my worthiest self. The witch shall die ! 
To the young Roman boy she hath sold me and I fall 
Under this plot ; she dies for 't. — Eros, ho ! \_Exif. 

' Scene XIII. Alexandria. Cleopatra'' s Palace 
Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras, and Mardian 
Cleopatra. Help me, my women ! -O, he is more mad 

Than Telamon for his shield ; the boar of Thessaly 

Was never so emboss'd. 

Charmian. To the monument ! 

There lock yourself and send him word you are dead. 

The soul and body rive not more in parting 

Than greatness going off. 

Cleopatra. To the monument ! — 

Mardian, go tell him I have slain myself; 

Say that the last I spoke was ' Antony,' 

And word it, prithee, piteously. Hence, Mardian, 

And bring me how he takes my death. — To the monu- 
ment ! \^Exeunt. 



Scene xivj Antony and Cleopatra 141 

Scene XIV. The Same. Another Room 
Enter Antony and Eros 

Antony. Eros, thou yet behold'st me ? 

Eros. Ay, noble lord. 

Antony. Sometime we see a cloud that 's dragonish, 
A vapour sometime like a bear or lion, 
A tower'd citadel, a pendent rock, 
A forked mountain, or blue promontory 
With trees upon 't, that nod unto the world 
And mock our eyes with air. Thou hast seen these signs ; 
They are black vesper's pageants. 

Eros. Ay, my lord. 

Antony. That which is now a horse, even with a thought 
The rack dislimns and makes it indistinct 10 

As water is in water. 

Eros. It does, my lord. 

Antony. My good knave Eros, now thy captain is 
Even such a body ; here I am Antony, 
Yet cannot hold this visible shape, my knave. 
I made these wars for Egypt and the queen, — 
Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine, 
Which whilst it was mine had annex'd unto 't 
A million moe, now lost, — she, Eros, has 
Pack'd cards with Caesar and false play'd my glory 
Unto an enemy's triumph. — 20 

Nay, weep not, gentle Eros; there is left us 
Ourselves to end ourselves. — 



142 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iv 

Enter Mardian 

O, thy vile lady ! 
She has robb'd me of my sword. 

Mardian. No, Antony; 

My mistress lov'd thee and her fortunes mingled 
With thine entirely. 

Antony. Hence, saucy eunuch ; peace ! 

She hath betray'd me and shall die the death. 

Mardian. Death of one person can be paid but once, 
And that she has discharg'd. What thou wouldst do 
Is done unto thy hand ; the last she spake 
Was ' Antony ! most noble Antony ! ' 30 

Then in the midst a tearing groan did break 
The name of Antony, it was divided 
Between her heart and lips ; she render'd life, 
Thy name so buried in her. 

Antony. Dead, then? 

Mardian. Dead. 

Antony. Unarm, Eros ; the long day's task is done 
And we must sleep. — \To Mardian'] That thou depart'st 

hence safe 
Does pay thy labour richly ; go. — \_Exit Mardian.] Off, 

pluck off ! — 
The seven-fold shield of Ajax cannot keep 
The battery from my heart. O, cleave, my sides ! 
Heart, once be stronger than thy continent, 40 

Crack thy frail case ! — Apace, Eros, apace. — 
No more a soldier. — Bruised pieces, go ; 



Scene XIV] Antony and Cleopatra 143 

You have been nobly borne. — From me awhile, — 

\_Exit Eros. 
I will o'ertake thee, Cleopatra, and 
Weep for my pardon. So it must be, for now 
All length is torture ; since the torch is out. 
Lie down and stray no farther. — Now all labour 
Mars what it does, yea, very force entangles 
Itself with strength; seal then, and all is done. — 
Eros ! — I come, my queen ! — Eros ! — Stay for me ! 50 
Where souls do couch on flowers we '11 hand in hand, 
And with our sprightly port make the ghosts gaze ; 
Dido and her ^^neas shall want troops 
And all the haunt be ours. — Come, Eros, Eros ! 

Re-enter Eros 

Eros. What would my lord? 

Antony. Since Cleopatra died 

I have liv'd in such dishonour that the gods 
Detest my baseness. I, that with my sword 
Quarter'd the world and o'er green Neptune's back 
With ships made cities, condemn myself to lack 
The courage of a woman ; less noble mind 60 

Than she which by her death our Caesar tells 
' I am conqueror of myself.' Thou art sworn, Eros, 
That when the exigent should come — which now 
Is come indeed — when I should see behind me 
The inevitable prosecution of 
Disgrace and horror, that, on my command. 
Thou then wouldst kill me. Do 't ; the time is come. 



144 Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 

Thou strik'st not me, 't is Caesar thou defeat'st. 
Put colour in thy cheek. 

Eros. The gods withhold me ! 

Shall I do that which all the Parthian darts, 7° 

Though enemy, lost aim and could not? 

Atitony. Eros, 

Wouldst thou be window'd in great Rome and see 
Thy master thus with pleach'd arms, bending down 
His corrigible neck, his face subdued 
To penetrative shame, whilst the wheel'd seat 
Of fortunate Caesar, drawn before him, branded 
His baseness that ensued ? 

Eros. I would not see 't. 

Antony. Come, then ; for with a wound I must be cur'd. 
Draw that thy honest sword which thou hast worn 
Most useful for thy country. 

Eros. O, sir, pardon me ! 80 

Antony. When I did make thee free, swor'st thou not 
' then 
To do this when I bade thee ? Do it at once, 
Or thy precedent services are all 
But accidents unpurpos'd. Draw, and come. 

Eros. Turn from me, then, that noble countenance 
Wherein the worship of the whole world lies. 

Antony. Lo thee ! \_Turning from him. 

Eros. My sword is drawn. 

Ajttony. Then let it do at once 

The thing why thou hast drawn it. 

Eros, My dear master, 



Scene XIV] Antony and Cleopatra 145 

My captain, and my emperor, let me say, 90 

Before I strike this bloody stroke, farewell. 

Antony. 'T is said, man ; and farewell. 

Ei'os. Farewell, great chief. Shall I strike now? 

Antony. Now, Eros. 

Eros. Why, there then! — Thus I do escape the 
sorrow 
Of Antony's death. \_Kills himself, 

Antony. Thrice-nobler than myself ! 

Thou teachest me, O valiant Eros, what 
I should, and thou couldst not. My queen and Eros 
Have by their brave instruction got upon me 
A nobleness in record ; but I will be 
A bridegroom in my death and run into 't 100 

As to a lover's bed. Come, then; and, Eros, 
Thy master dies thy scholar ; to do thus 

\_Faning on his sword. 
I learn'd of thee. How ! not dead? not dead? — 
The guard, ho ! — O, dispatch me ! 

Enter Dercetas and Guard 

1 Guard. What 's the noise? 
Antony. I have done my work ill, friends ; O, make an 

end 
Of what I have begun ! 

2 Guard. The star is fallen. 
I Guard. And time is at his period. 

All. Alas, and woe ! 

Antony. Let him that loves me strike me dead. 
ANTONY — 10 



146 Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 

1 Guard. Not I. 

2 Guard. Nor I. 109 

3 Guard. Nor any one. \_Exeunt Guard. 
Dercetas. Thy death and fortunes bid thy followers 

fly. 
This sword but shown to Caesar, with this tidings, 
Shall enter me with him. 

Enter Diomedes 

Diomedes. Where 's Antony? 

Dercetas. There, Diomed, there. 

Diomedes. Lives he? 

Wilt thou not answer, man ? \_Exit Dercetas. 

Antony. Art thou there, Diomed? Draw thy sword 
and give me 
Sufficing strokes for death. 

Diomedes. Most absolute lord, 

My mistress Cleopatra sent me to thee. 

Antony. When did she send thee ? 

Diomedes. Now, my lord. 

Antony. Where is she? 

Diomedes. Lock'd in her monument. She had a 
prophesying fear 120 

Of what hath come to pass ; for when she saw — 
Which never shall be found — you did suspect 
She had dispos'd with Caesar, and that your rage 
Would not be purg'd, she sent you word she was 

dead. 
But, fearing since how it might work, hath sent 



Scene XV] Antony and Cleopatra 147 

Me to proclaim the truth, — and I am come, 
I dread, too late. 

Afitofiy. Too late, good Diomed. Call my guard, I 

prithee. 
Dio77iedes. What, ho, the emperor's guard ! The 
guard, what, ho ! 
Come, your lord calls ! 130 

Enter four or five of the Guard of Antony 

Antony. Bear me, good friends, where Cleopatra bides ; 
'T is the last service that I shall command you. 

I Guard. Woe, woe are we, sir, you may not live to 
wear 
All your true followers out. 

All. Most heavy day ! 

Antony. Nay, good my fellows, do not please sharp 
fate 
To grace it with your sorrows ; bid that welcome 
Which comes to punish us, and we punish it 
Seeming to bear it lightly. Take me up. 
I have led you oft; carry me now, good friends, 139 

And have my thanks for all. \_Exeunt, hearing Antony. 

Scene XV. The Same. A Monument 

Enter Cleopatra, and her maids aloft, with Charmian 

and Iras 

Cleopatra. O Charmian, I will never go from hence. 
Charmian. Be comforted, dear madam. 



148 Antony and Cleopatra [Act iv 

Cleopatra. No, I will not. 

All strange and terrible events are welcome, 
But comforts we despise ; our size of sorrow, 
Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great 
As that which makes it. — 

Enter, below, Diomedes 

How, now ! is he dead ! 
Diomedes. His death 's upon him, but not dead. 
Look out o' the other side your monument ; 
His guard have brought him thither. 

Enter, below, Antony, borne by the Guard 

Cleopatra, O sun. 

Burn the great sphere thou mov'st in ! darkling stand 10 
The varying shore o' the world ! — O Antony, 
Antony, Antony ! — Help, Charmian, — help, Iras, 

help ; — 
Help, friends below ; let 's draw him hither. 

Antony. Peace ! 

Not Caesar's valour hath o'erthrown Antony, 
But Antony's hath triumph'd on itself. 

Cleopatra. So it should be, that none but Antony 
Should conquer Antony ; but woe 't is so ! 

Antony. I am dying, Egypt, dying ; only 
I here importune death awhile until 

Of many thousand kisses the poor last 20 

I lay upon thy lips. 

Cleopatra. I dare not, dear, — 



Scene XV] Antony and Cleopatra 149 

Dear my lord, pardon, — I dare not, 

Lest I be taken : not the imperious show 

Of the full-fortun'd Caesar ever shall 

Be brooch'd with me; if knife, drugs, serpents, have 

Edge, sting, or operation, I am safe. 

Your wife Octavia, with her modest eyes 

And still conclusion, shall acquire no honour 

Demuring upon me. But come, come, Antony, — 

Help rae, my women, — we must draw thee up. — 30 

Assist, good friends. 

Antony. O, quick, or I am gone. 

Cleopatra. Here 's sport indeed ! — How heavy weighs 
my lord ! 
Our strength is all gone into heaviness, 
That makes the weight. Had I great Juno's power, 
The strong-wing'd Mercury should fetch thee up 
And set thee by Jove's side. Yet come a little, — 
Wishers were ever fools, — O, come, come, come ; 

\_They heave Antony aloft to Cleopatra. 
And welcome, welcome ! die where thou hast liv'd ; 
Quicken with kissing ; had my lips that power. 
Thus would I wear them out. 

AIL A heavy sight ! 40 

Antony. I am dying, Egypt, dying. — 
Give me some wine, and let me speak a little. 

Cleopati^a. No, let me speak ; and let me rail so 
high 
That the false huswife Fortune break her wheel, 
Provok'd by my offence. 



150 Antony and Cleopatra [Act IV 

Antony. One word, sweet queen ; 

Of Caesar seek your honour with your safety. — O ! 

Cleopatra, They do not go together. 

Antony. Gentle, hear me : 

None about Caesar trust but Proculeius. 

Cleopatra. My resolution and my hands I '11 trust, 
None about Caesar. 50 

Antony. The miserable change now at my end 
Lament nor sorrow at, but please your thoughts 
In feeding them with those my former fortunes 
Wherein I liv'd the greatest prince o' the world, 
The noblest, and do now not basely die. 
Not cowardly put off my helmet to 
My countryman, — a Roman by a Roman 
Valiantly vanquish'd. Now my spirit is going ; 
I can no more. 

Cleopatra. Noblest of men, woo't die ? 
Hast thou no care of me ? shall I abide 60 

In this dull world which in thy absence is 
No better than a sty? — O . see, myjvom en, [^ Antony dies. 
The crown o' the earth doth melt. — My lord ! — 
O, wither'd is the garland of the war, 
The soldier's pole is fallen ; young boys and girls 
Are level now with men ; the odds is gone. 
And there is nothing left remarkable 
Beneath the visiting moon. 

Charniian. O, quietness, lady ! 

Iras. She is dead too, our sovereign. 

Charmian. Lady ! 



Scene XV] Antony and Cleopatra 151 

Iras. Madam ! 

Charmian. O madam, madam, madam ! 

Iras. Royal Egypt, 70 

Empress ! 

Charmian. Peace, peace, Iras ! 

Cleopatra. No more but e'en a woman, and com- 
manded 
By such poor passion as the maid that milks 
And does the meanest chares. — It were for me 
To throw my sceptre at the injurious gods, 
To tell them that this world did equal theirs 
Till they had stolen our jewel. All 's but naught; 
Patience is sottish, and impatience does 
Become a dog that's mad. Then is it sin 80 

To rush into the secret house of death 
Ere death dare come to us ? — How do you, women? 
What, what ! good cheer ! — Why, how now, Charmian ! — 
My noble girls ! Ah, women, women, look. 
Our lamp is spent, it's out ! — Good sirs, take heart. 
We 'U bury him ; and then, what 's brave, what 's noble, 
Let 's do it after the high Roman fashion. 
And make death proud to take us. — Come, away : 
This case of that huge spirit now is cold. — 
Ah, women, women ! come ; we have no friend 90 

But resolution and the briefest end. 

\_Exeunt; those above bearing off Antonyms body. 



^dM^ 




Interior of Monument 



ACT V 

Scene I. Alexandria. Ccesar's Camp 

Enter C^sar, Agrippa, Dolabella, MiECENAS, Gallus, 
Proculeius, and others, his council of war 

C(Bsar. Go to him, Dolabella, bid him yield ; 
Being so frustrate, tell him he mocks 
The pauses that he makes. 

Dolabella. Caesar, I shall. \^Exit. 

Enter Dercetas, with the sword of Antony 

Ccesar. Wherefore is that? and what art thou that 
dar'st 
Appear thus to us? 

Dercetas. I am call'd Dercetas ; 

Mark Antony I serv'd, who best was worthy 

152 



Scene ij Antony and Cleopatra 153 

Best to be serv'd ; whilst he stood up and spoke, 

He was my master, and I wore my Hfe 

To spend upon his haters. If thou please 

To take me to thee, as I was to him 10 

I '11 be to Caesar; if thou pleasest not, 

I yield thee up my life. 

Ccasar. What is 't thou say'st? 

Dercetas. I say, O Caesar, Antony is dead. 

Ccesa?'. The breaking of so great a thing should 
make 
A greater crack ; the round world 
Should have shook lions into civil streets. 
And citizens to their dens. The death of Antony 
Is not a single doom ; in the name lay 
A moiety of the world. 

Dercetas. He is dead, Caesar ; 

Not by a public minister of justice, 20 

Nor by a hired knife, but that self hand 
Which writ his honour in the acts it did 
Hath, with the courage which the heart did lend it, 
Sphtted the heart. This is his sword, 
I robb'd his wound of it ; behold it stain 'd 
With his most noble blood. 

Cmsa7\ Look you sad, friends? 

The gods rebuke me but it is tidings 
To wash the eyes of kings. 

Agrippa. And strange it is 

That nature must compel us to lament 
Our most persisted deeds. 



154 Antony and Cleopatra [Act V 

Mcecenas. His taints and honours 30 

Wag'd equal with him. 

Agrippa. A rarer spirit never 

Did steer humanity ; but you, gods, will give us 
Some faults to make us men. Caesar is touch'd. 

Macenas. When such a spacious mirror 's set before 
him. 
He needs must see himself. 

Ccesar. O Antony ! 

I have follow'd thee to this ; but we do lance 
Diseases in our bodies. I must perforce 
Have shown to thee such a declining day. 
Or look on thine ; we could not stall together 
In the whole world. But yet let me lament, 40 

With tears as sovereign as the blood of hearts, 
That thou, my brother, my competitor 
In top of all design, my mate in empire. 
Friend and companion in the front of war, 
The arm of mine own body, and the heart 
Where mine his thoughts did kindle, — that our stars, 
Unreconciliable, should divide 
Our equalness to this. — Hear me, good friends, — 
But I will tell you at some meeter season. — 

Enter an Egyptian 

The business of this man looks out of him ; 50 

We '11 hear him what he says. — Whence are you? 

Egyptian. A poor Egyptian yet. — The queen my 
mistress, 



Scene I] Antony and Cleopatra 155 

Confin'd in all she has, her monument, 
Of thy intents desires instruction, 
That she preparedly may frame herself 
To the way she 's forc'd to. 

CcBsar. Bid her have good heart. 

She soon shall know of us, by some of ours, 
How honourable and how kindly we 
Determine for her; for Csesar cannot live 
To be ungentle. 

Egyptian. So the gods preserve thee ! \^Exit. 

Ccesar. Come hither, Proculeius. Go and say, 61 

We purpose her no shame. Give her what com- 
forts 
The quality of her passion shall require. 
Lest, in her greatness, by some mortal stroke 
She do defeat us ; for her life in Rome 
Would be eternal in our triumph. Go, 
And with your speediest bring us what she says 
And how you find of her. 

Proculeius. Caesar, I shall. \^Exit. 

Ccesar. Gallus, go you along. — \_Exit Gallus.'\ 
Where 's Dolabella, 
To second Proculeius? 

All Dolabella! 70 

Ccesar. Let him alone, for I remember now 
How he 's employ'd ; he shall in time be ready. 
Go with me to my tent, where you shall see 
How hardly I was drawn into this war. 
How calm and gentle I proceeded still 



156 Antony and Cleopatra [Act v 

In all my writings. Go with me and see 

What I can show in this. \_Exeunt. 



Scene II. Alexandria. A Room in the Monument 

Enter Cleopatra, Charmian, and Iras 

Cleopatra. My desolation does begin to make 
A better life. 'T is paltry to be Csesar ; 
Not being Fortune, he 's but Fortune's knave, 
A minister of her will ; and it is great 
To do that thing that ends all other deeds, 
Which shackles accidents and bolts up change. 
Which sleeps, and never palates more the dung. 
The beggar's nurse and Caesar's. 

Enter, to the gates of the monument, Proculeius, Gallus, 

and Soldiers 

Proculeius. Caesar sends greeting to the Queen of 
Egypt, 
And bids thee study on what fair demands 10 

Thou mean' St to have him grant thee. 

Cleopati^a. W^hat 's thy name? 

Proculeius. My name is Proculeius. 

Cleopatra. ' Antony 

Did tell me of you, bade me trust you ; but 
I do not greatly care to be deceiv'd 
That have no use for trusting. If your master 
Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 157 

That majesty, to keep decorum, must 

No less beg than a kingdom ; if he please 

To give me conquer'd Egypt for my son. 

He gives me so much of mine own as I 20 

Will kneel to him v^^ith thanks. 

Proculeius. Be of good cheer ; 

You 're fallen into a princely hand, fear nothing. 
Make your full reference freely to my lord, 
Who is so full of grace that it flows over 
On all that need. Let me report to him 
Your sweet dependency, and you shall find 
A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindness, . 
Where he for grace is kneel'd to. 

Cleopatra. Pray you, tell him 

I am his fortune's vassal, and I send him 
The greatness he has got. I hourly learn 30 

A doctrine of obedience and would gladly 
Look him i' the face. 

Proculeius. This I '11 report, dear lady. 

Have comfort, for I know your plight is pitied 
Of him that caus'd it. 

Gallus. You see how easily she may be surpris'd. — 

[Here Proculeius and two of the Guard as- 
cend the 77ionument by a ladder placed 
against a windoiv, and, having de- 
scended, come behind Cleopatra. Some 
of the Guard unbar and open the gates. 
\^To Proculeius'] Guard her till Caesar come. [Exit. 

Iras. Royal queen ! 



158 Antony and Cleopatra [Act V 

Charniian. O Cleopatra ! thou art taken, queen. 

Cleopatra. Quick, quick, good hands. 

\_Drawing a dagger. 

Proculeius. Hold, worthy lady, hold ! 

\_Seizes and disarms her. 
Do not yourself such wrong, who are in this 40 

Reliev'd, but not betray'd. 

Cleopatra. What, of death too, 

That rids our dogs of languish? 

Proculeius. Cleopatra, 

Do not abuse my master's bounty by 
The undoing of yourself; let the world see 
His nobleness well acted, which your death 
Will never let come forth. 

Cleopatra. Where art thou. Death? 

Come hither, come ! come, come, and take a queen 
Worth many babes and beggars ! 

Proculeius. O, temperance, lady ! 

Cleopatra. Sir, I will eat no meat, I '11 not drink, sir ; 
If idle talk will once be necessary, 50 

I '11 not sleep neither. This mortal house I '11 ruin, 
Do Caesar what he can. Know, sir, that I 
Will not wait pinion' d at your master's court. 
Nor once be chastis'd with the sober eye 
Of dull Octavia. Shall they hoist me up 
And show me to the shouting varletry 
Of censuring Rome ? Rather a ditch in Egypt 
Be gentle grave unto me ! rather on Nilus' mud 
Lay me stark nak'd, and let the water-flies 




Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 159 

Blow me into abhorring ! rather make 60 

My country's high pyramides my gibbet 
And hang me up in chains ! 

Proculeius. You do extend 

These thoughts of horror further than you shall 
Find cause in Caesar. 

Enter Dolabella 

Dolabella, Proculeius, 

What thou hast done thy master Caesar knows, 
And he hath sent for thee ; for the queen, 
I '11 take her to my guard. 

Proculeius. So, Dolabella, 

It shall content me best ; be gende to her. — 
\To Ckopatra.~\ To Caesar I will speak what you shall 

please, 
If you '11 employ me to him. 

Cleopatra. Say, I would die. 70 

\_Exeunt Proculeius and Soldiers. 

Dolabella. Most noble empress, you have heard of me ? 

Cleopatra. I cannot tell! **■— 

Dolabella. Assuredly you know me. 

Cleopatra. No matter, sir, what I have heard or known. 
You laugh when boys or women tell their dreams ; 
Is 't not your trick? 

Dolabella. I understand not, madam. 

Cleopatra. I dream'd there was an Emperor Antony. — 
0, such another sleep, that I might see 
But such another man ! 

Dolabella. If it might please ye, — 



i6o Antony and Cleopatra [Act v 

Cleopatra. His face was as the heavens ; and therein 
stuck 
A sun and moon, which kept their course and hghted 80 
The little O, the earth. 

Dolabella. Most sovereign creature, — 

Cleopatra. His legs bestrid the ocean ; his rear'd arm 
Crested the world ; his voice was propertied 
As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends ; 
But when he meant to quail and shake the orb 
He was as ratthng thunder. For his bounty, 
There was no winter in 't ; an autumn 't was 
That grew the more by reaping ; his delights 
Were dolphin-like ; they show'd his back above 
The element they liv'd in ; in his livery 90 

Walk'd crowns and crownets ; realms and islands were 
As plates .dropp'd from his pocket. 

Dolabella. Cleopatra ! 

Cleopatra. Think you there was, or might be, such a man 
As this I dream'd of? 

Dolabella. Gentle madam, no. 

Cleopatra. You lie, up to the hearing of the gods. 
But, if there be, or ever were, one such, 
It 's past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuff 
To vie strange forms with fancy ; yet, to imagine 
An Antony, were nature's piece 'gainst fancy, 
Condemning shadows quite. 

Dolabella. Hear me, good madam. 100 

Your loss is as yourself, great ; and you bear it 
As answering to the weight. Would I might never 



\ 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra i6i 

O'ertake pursued success but I do feel, 
By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites 
My very heart at root. 

Cleopatra. I thank you, sir. 

Know you what Caesar means to do with me ? 

Dolabella. I am loath to tell you what I would you 
knew. 

Cleopatra. Nay, pray you, sir, — 

Dolabella. Though he be honourable, — 

Cleopatra. He '11 lead me, then, in triumph? 

Dolabella. Madam, he will ; I know 't. no 

[^Flourish, and shout within, ^Make way there : Caesar !' 

Enter Caesar, Callus, Proculeius, M/ecenas, Seleucus, 
and others of his Train 

Ccesar. Which is the Queen of Egypt ? 

Dolabella. It is the Emperor, madam. 

\_Cleopatra kneels. 

Ccesar. Arise, you shall not kneel. 
I pray you rise ; rise, Egypt. 

Cleopatra. Sir, the gods 

Will have it thus ; my master and my lord 
I must obey. 

Ccesar. Take to you no hard thoughts ; 
The record of what injuries you did us. 
Though written in our flesh, we shall remember 
As things but done by chance. 

Cleopatra. Sole sir o' the world, 120 

I cannot project mine own cause so well 

ANTONY — II 



1 62 Antony and Cleopatra [Act V 

To make it clear, but do confess I have 
Been laden with like frailties which before 
Have often sham'd our sex. 

CcBsar. Cleopatra, know, 

We will extenuate rather than enforce. 
If you apply yourself to our intents, 
Which towards you are most gentle, you shall find 
A benefit in this change ; but, if you seek 
To lay on me a cruelty by taking 

Antony's course, you shall bereave yourself 130 

Of my good purposes, and put your children 
To that destruction which I '11 guard them from, 
If thereon you rely. I '11 take my leave. 

Cleopatra. And may, through all the world : 't is yours, 
and we. 
Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall 
Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord. 

Ccesar. You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra. 

Cleopatra. This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels, 
I am possess'd of; 'tis exactly valued. 
Not petty things admitted. — Where 's Seleucus? 140 

Seleucus. Here, madam. 

Cleopatra. This is my treasurer ; let him speak, my 
lord, 
Upon his peril, that I have reserv'd 
To myself nothing. — Speak the truth, Seleucus. 

Seleucus. Madam, 
I had rather seal my lips than, to my peril. 
Speak that which is not. 



r 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 163 

Cleopatra. What have I kept back? 

Seleucus. Enough to purchase what you have made 
known. 

CcEsar. Nay, blush not, Cleopatra; I approve 
Your wisdom in the deed. 

Cleopatra, See, Caesar ! O, behold, 150 

How pomp is follow'd ! mine will now be yours. 
And, should we shift estates, yours would be mine. 
The ingratitude of this Seleucus does 
Even make me wild. — O slave, of no more trust 
Than love that's hir'd ! — What, goest thou back? thou 

shalt 
Go back, I warrant thee ; but I '11 catch thine eyes. 
Though they had wings. — Slave, soulless villain, dog! 
O rarely base ! 

CcRsar. Good queen, let us entreat you. 

Cleopatra. O Caesar, what a wounding shame is this. 
That thou, vouchsafing here to visit me, 160 

Doing the honour of thy lordliness 
To one so meek, — that mine own servant should 
Parcel the sum of my disgraces by 
Addition of his envy ! Say, good Caesar, 
That I some lady trifles have reserv'd, 
Immoment toys, things of such dignity 
As we greet modern friends withal ; and say, 
Some nobler token I have kept apart 
For Livia and Octavia, to induce 

Their mediation ; must I be unfolded 170 

With one that I have bred ? The gods ! it smites me 



164 Antony and Cleopatra [Act v 

Beneath the fall I have. — [_To Seleucus\ Prithee, go 

hence, 
Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits 
Through the ashes of my chance ; wert thou a man, 
Thou wouldst have mercy on me. 

Ccesar, Forbear, Seleucus. 

\_Exit Seleucus, 
Cleopatra. Be it known, that we, the greatest, aie 
misthought 
For things that others do ; and when we fall 
We answer others' merits in our name. 
Are therefore to be pitied. 

Ccesar. Cleopatra, 

Not what you have reserv'd, nor what acknowledg'd, 180 
Put we i' the roll of conquest ; still be 't yours. 
Bestow it at your pleasure, and believe 
Caesar 's no merchant, to make prize with you 
Of things that merchants sold. Therefore be cheer'd, 
Make not your thoughts your prisons ; no, dear 

queen. 
For we intend so to dispose you as 
Yourself shall give us counsel. Feed and sleep. 
Our care and pity is so much upon you 
That we remain your friend ; and so, adieu. 
Cleopatra. My master, and my lord ! 
Ccesar. Not so. Adieu. 

\_Flourish. Exeunt Ccesar and his Train. 
Cleopatra. He words me, girls, he words me, that I 
should not 191 



I 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 165 

Be noble to myself; — but, hark thee, Charmian. 

[ Whispers Charmian. 

Iras. Finish, good lady ; the bright day is done 
And we are for the dark. 

Cleopatra. Hie thee again. 

I have spoke already, and it is provided ; 
Go put it to the haste. 

Charmian. Madam, I will. 

Re-enter Dolabella 

Dolabella. Where is the queen? 

Charmia7z. Behold, sir. \_Exit. 

Cleopatra. Dolabella ! 

Dolabella. Madam, as thereto sworn by your command. 
Which my love makes religion to obey, 
I tell you this : Caesar through Syria 200 

Intends his journey, and within three days 
You with your children will he send before. 
Make your best use of this ; I have perform'd 
Your pleasure and my promise. 

Cleopatra. Dolabella, 

I shall remain your debtor. 

Dolabella. I your servant. 

Adieu, good queen ; I must attend on Caesar. 

Cleopatra. Farewell, and thanks. — \_Exit Dolabella.~\ 
Now, Iras, what think'st thou? 
Thou, an Egyptian puppet, shalt be shown 
In Rome, as well as I ; mechanic slaves 
With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall 210 



1 66 Antony and Cleopatra [Act V 

Uplift us to the view ; in their thick breaths, 
Rank of gross diet, shall we be enclouded 
And forc'd to drink their vapour. 

Iras. The gods forbid ! 

Cleopatra. Nay, 't is most certain, Iras. Saucy lictors 
Will catch at us, like strumpets, and scald rhymers 
Ballad us out o' tune ; the quick comedians, 
Extemporally will stage us and present 
Our Alexandrian revels ; Antony 
Shall be brought drunken forth, and I shall see 
Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness 220 

I' the posture of a whore. 

Iras. O the good gods ! 

Cleopatra. Nay, that 's certain. 

Iras. I '11 never see 't ; for, I am sure, my nails 
Are stronger than mine eyes. 

Cleopatra. Why, that 's the way 

To fool their preparation and to conquer 
Their most absurd intents. — 

Re-enter Charmian 

Now, Charmian ! — 
Show me, my women, like a queen ; go fetch 
My best attires. — I am again for Cydnus, 
To meet Mark Antony. — Sirrah Iras, go. — 
Now, noble Charmian, we '11 dispatch indeed ; 230 

And, when thou hast done this chare, I '11 give thee leave 
To play till doomsday. — Bring our crown and all. — 
Wherefore 's this noise ? \_Exit Iras. A noise withm. 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 167 

Enter a Guardsman 

Guardsman. Here is a rural fellow 

That will not be denied your highness' presence ; 
He brings you figs. 

Cleopatra. Let him come in. — \_Exit Guardsmanr\ 
What poor an instrument 
May do a noble deed ! he brings me hberty. 
My resolution 's plac'd, and I have nothing 
Of woman in me ; now from head to foot 
I am marble-constant, now the fleeting moon 240 

No planet is of mine. 

Re-enter Guardsman, with Clown bringing in a basket 

Guardsman. This is the man. 

Cleopatra. Avoid, and leave him. — 

\_Exit Guardsman. 
Hast thou the pretty worm of Nilus there, 
That kills and pains not? 

Clown. Truly, I have him, but I would not be the 
party that should desire you to touch him, for his bit- 
ing is immortal; those that do die of it do seldom or 
never recover. 

Cleopatra. Rememberest thou any that have died 
on 't? 250 

Clown. Very many, men and women too. I heard 
of one of them no longer than yesterday ; a very honest 
woman, but something given to he, — as a woman should 
not do, but in the way of honesty, — how she died of the 
biting of it, what pain she felt. Truly, she makes a very 



1 68 Antony and Cleopatra [Act v 

good report o' the worm, but he that will believe all that 
they say shall never be saved by half that they do ; but 
this is most fallible, the worm 's an odd worm. 

Cleopatra. Get thee hence ; farewell. 

Clown, I wish you all joy of the worm. 260 

\_Setting down his basket. 

Cleopatra. Farewell. 

Clown. You must think this, look you, that the 
worm will do his kind. 

Cleopatra. Ay, ay j farewell. 

Clown. Look you, the worm is not to be trusted 
but in the keeping of wise people ; for, indeed, there 
is no goodness in the worm. 

Cleopatra. Take thou no care ; it shall be heeded. 

Clown. Very good. Give it nothing, I pray you, 
for it is not worth the feeding. 270 

Cleopatra, Will it eat me ? 

Clown, You must not think I am so simple but I 
know the devil himself will not eat a woman. I know 
that a woman is a dish for the gods, if the devil dress 
her not. But, truly, these same whoreson devils do 
the gods great harm in their women ; for in every ten 
that they make, the devils mar five. 

Cleopatra. Well, get thee gone ; farewell. 

Clown, Yes, forsooth ; I wish you joy o' the worm. 

\_Exit. 

Re-e7iter Iras with a robe, crown, etc. 

Cleopatra. Give me my robe, put on my crown ; I have 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 169 

Immortal longings in me. Now no more 281 

The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip. — 

Yare, yare, good Iras ; quick. — Methinks I hear 

Antony call ; I see him rouse himself 

To praise my noble act ; I hear him mock 

The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men 

To excuse their after wrath. — Husband, I come ! 

Now to that name my courage prove my title ! 

I am fire and air ; my other elements 

I give to baser life. — So ; have you done ? 290 

Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips. — 

Farewell, kind Charmian. — Iras, long farewell. 

\_Kisses them. Iras falls and dies. 
Have I the aspic in my hps? Dost fall? 
If thou and nature can so gently part. 
The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch, 
Which hurts and is desir'd. Dost thou lie still? 
If thus thou vanishest, thou tell'st the world 
It is not worth leave-taking. 

Charmian. Dissolve, thick cloud, and rain ; that I 
may say 
The gods themselves do weep ! 

Cleopatra. This proves me base ; 

If she first meet the curled Antony, 301 

He '11 make demand of her and spend that kiss 
Which is my heaven to have. — Come, thou mortal 
wretch, 

\To an asp, which she applies to her breast. 
With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate 



lyo Antony and Cleopatra [Act V 

Of life at once untie ; poor venomous fool, 
Be angry and dispatch. O, couldst thou speak, 
That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass 
Unpolicied ! 

Charmian, O eastern star ! 

Cleopatra. Peace, peace ! 

Dost thou not see my baby at my breast 
That sucks the nurse asleep ? 

Charmian. O, break ! O, break ! 310 

Cleopatra. As sweet as balm, as soft as air, as 
gentle, — 

Antony ! — Nay, I will take thee too. — 

\_Applying another asp to her arm. 
What should I stay — \_Dies. 

Charmian. In this wild world? — So, fare thee 
well. — 
Now boast thee, Death, in thy possession lies 
A lass unparallel'd. — Downy windows, close ; 
And golden Phoebus never be beheld 
Of eyes again so royal ! — Your crown 's awry ; 

1 '11 mend it and then play — 

Enter the Guard, rushing in 

I Guard. Where is the queen? 

Charmian. Speak softly, wake her not. 

I Guard. Caesar hath sent — 

Charmian. Too slow a messenger. — 

{^Applies an asp. 
O, come apace, dispatch ! I partly feel thee. 322 



Scene II] Antony and Cleopatra 171 

1 Guard. Approach, ho ! All 's not well ; Caesar 's 

beguil'd. 

2 Guard. There 's Dolabella sent from Caesar ; call him. 

1 Guard. What work is here ! — Charmian, is this 

well done ? 
Charmian. It is well done, and fitting for a princess 
Descended of so many royal kings. 
Ah, soldier ! IVies. 

Re-enter Dolabella 

Dolabella. How goes it here ? 

2 Guard. All dead. 

Dolabella. Caesar, thy thoughts 

Touch their effects in this ; thyself art coming 33° 

To see perform'd the dreaded act which thou 
So sought'st to hinder. 

[ Within. ' A way there, a way for Caesar ! ' 

Re-enter Caesar, and all his Train, marching 

Dolabella. O sir, you are too sure an augurer ; 
That you did fear is done. 

Ccesar. Bravest at the last, 

She levell'd at our purposes and, being royal. 
Took her own way. — The manner of their deaths? 
I do not see them bleed. 

Dolabella. Who was last with them ? 

I Guard. A simple countryman that brought her figs ; 
This was his basket. 

CcBsar. Poison'd, then. 

I Guard. O Caesar, 



172 Antony and Cleopatra [Act V 

This Charmian liv'd but now ; she stood and spake. 340 

I found her trimming up the diadem 

On her dead mistress ; trembhngly she stood 

And on the sudden dropp'd. 

CcEsar, O noble weakness ! 

If they had swallow'd poison, 't would appear 
By external swelling ; but she looks like sleep, 
As she would catch another Antony 
In her strong toil of grace. 

Dolabella. Here, on her breast, 

There is a vent of blood and something blown ; 
The like is on her arm. 

I Guard. This is an aspic's trail, and these fig-leaves 
Have slime upon them such as the aspic leaves 351 

Upon the caves of Nile. 

Ccesar. Most probable 

That so she died ; for her physician tells me 
She hath pursued'conclusions infinite 
Of easy ways to die. — Take up her bed; 
And bear her women from the monument. 
She shall be buried by her Antony ; 
No grave upon the earth shall clip in it 
A pair so famous. High events as these 
Strike those that make them ; and their story is 360 

No less in pity than his glory which 
Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall 
In solemn show attend this funeral. 
And then to Rome. — Come, Dolabella, see 
High order in this great solemnity. \_Exeunt. 



NOTES 




Prow of Roman Galley 

NOTES 

Introduction 

The Metre of the Play. — It should be understood at the 
outset that metre, or the mechanism of verse, is something alto- 
gether distinct from the music of verse. The one is matter of rule, 
the other of taste and feeling. Music is not an absolute necessity 
of verse ; the metrical form is a necessity, being that which consti- 
tutes the verse. 

The plays of Shakespeare (with the exception of rhymed pas- 
sages, and of occasional songs and interludes) are all in unrhymed 
or blank verse ; and the normal form of this blank verse is illus- 
trated by the second line of the present play, "O'erflows the 
measure. Those his goodly eyes." 

This line, it will be seen, consists of ten syllables, with the even 
syllables (2d, 4th, 6th, 8th, and loth) accented, the odd syllables 

175 



176 Notes 

(ist, 3d, etc.) being unaccented. Theoretically, it is made up of 
five feet of two syllables each, with the accent on the second sylla- 
ble. Such a foot is called an iambus (plural, iambuses, or the 
Latin iambi~), and the form of verse is called iambic. 

This fundamental law of Shakespeare's verse is subject to certain 
modifications, the most important of which are as follows : — 

1. After the tenth syllable an unaccented syllable (or even two 
such syllables) may be added, forming what is sometimes called a 
female line ; as in i. i. 8 : "The buckles on his breast, reneges all 
temper." The rhythm is complete with the first syllable of temper, 
the second being an extra eleventh syllable. In ii. 3. 4 ("To them 
for you. Good night, sir. — My Octavia") we have two extra 
syllables, the rhythm being complete with the second syllable of 
Octavia. 

2. The accent in any part of the verse may be shifted from an 
even to an odd syllable ; as in i. i. i : "Nay, but this dotage of our 
general's," and i. i. 11 : "Take but good note, and you shall see in 
him." In both lines the accent is shifted from the second to the 
first syllable. This change occurs very rarely in the tenth syllable, 
and seldom in the fourth ; and it is not allowable in two successive 
accented syllables. 

3. An extra unaccented syllable may occur in any part of the 
line; as in i. I, 15 and 20. In 15 the second syllable of brggary 
is superfluous, and in 20 that of Fulvia. In line 59 (a female line) 
the word am is superfluous. 

4. Any unaccented syllable, occurring in an even place immedi- 
ately before or after an even syllable which is properly accented, is 
reckoned as accented for the purposes of the verse ; as, for instance, 
in lines I and 32. In i the last syllable oi generaVs, and in 32 that 
of messengers, are metrically equivalent to accented syllables ; and 
so with the third syllable of punishment in 39, of qualities in 54, 
and of Antony in 57. 

5. In many instances in Shakespeare words must be lengthened 
in order to fill out the rhythm : — 



Notes 177 

{a) In a large class of words in which e or i is followed by 
another vowel, the e or i is made a separate syllable; as ocean, 
opinion, soldier, patience, partial, marriage, etc. For instance, in 
this play, i. 2. 97 ("Extended Asia from Euphrates") appears to 
have only nine syllables, but Asia is a trisyllable ; and Octavia 
(generally a trisyllable) is a quadrisyllable in ii. 5. 60: "Madam, 
he's married to Octavia." This lengthening occurs most frequently 
at the end of the line, but there are few instances of it in this 
play. 

{]}) Many monosyllables ending in r, re, rs, res, preceded by a 
long vowel or diphthong, are often made dissyllables ; z.% fare, fear, 
dear, fire, hair, hour, more, your, etc. If the word is repeated in a 
verse, it is often both monosyllable and dissyllable; as in M. of V. 
iii. 2. 20: "And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so," where 
either yours (preferably the first) is a dissyllable, the other being a 
monosyllable. In _/. C. iii. i. 172: "As fire drives out fire, so pity, 
pity," the first fire is a dissyllable. 

if) Words containing / or r, preceded by another consonant, are 
often pronounced as if a vowel came between or after the conso- 
nants; as in ii. 5. 27: "Thou kill'st thy mistress [mist(e)ress]; 
but well and free"; v. i. 2: "Being so frustrate [frust(e)rate], 
tell him he mocks"; T. of S. ii. i. 158: "While she did call me 
rascal fiddler" [fiddl(e)er]; A. W., iii. 5. 43: "If you will tarry, 
holy pilgrim" [pilg(e)rim] ; C. of E. v. I. 360 : "These are the par- 
ents of these children" (childeren,the original form of the word); 
W. T. iv. 4. 76: "Grace and remembrance [rememb(e) ranee] be 
to you both ! " etc. 

(^d) Monosyllabic exclamations {ay, O, yea, nay, hail, etc.) and 
monosyllables otherwise emphasized are similarly lengthened ; 
also certain longer words; as commandement in M. of V. iv. I. 
442 ; safety (trisyllable) in Ham. i. 3. 21; business (trisyllable, as 
originally pronounced) '\n J. C. iv. I. 22: "To groan and sweat 
under the business " (so in several other passages) ; and other 
words mentioned in the notes to the plays in which they occur. 
ANTONY — 1 2 



lyS Notes 



6. Words are also contracted for metrical reasons, like plurals 
and possessives ending in a sibilant, as balance, horse (for horses 
and horse'' s^, princess, sense, marriage (plural and possessive), 
targes (see note on ii. 6. 39), etc. So with many adjectives in the 
superlative (like coldest, stern''st, kindest, sccrefst, etc.) and certain 
other words. 

7. The accent of words is also varied in many instances for met- 
rical reasons. Thus we find both revenue and revenue in the first 
scene of the M. N. D. (lines 6 and 158), cSndenin^d (see note on 
i. 3. 49) and condhnn'' d, record and recdrd (noun; see on iv. 9. 8), 
mdture a.nd mature, pur szie z.n<\ pzcrsue, distinct and distinct, etc. 

These instances of variable accent must not be confounded with 
those in which words were uniformly accented differently in the 
time of Shakespeare; like aspect (see on i. 5. 24), impSrtune (see 
on iv, 15. 19), Euphrates (see on i. 2. 97), sepulchre (verb), per- 
sever (never persevere^, perseverance, 7-heumatic, etc. 

8. Alexandrines, or verses of twelve syllables, with six accents, 
occur here and there in the plays ; as i. i. 29 and 31, i. 3. 63, ii. I. 16, 
etc. They must not be confounded with female lines with two extra 
syllables (see on i above) or with other lines in which two extra 
unaccented syllables may occur. 

9. Incomplete verses, of one or more syllables, are scattered 
through the plays. See i. i. 19, 25, i. 2. 83, 84, 106, etc. 

10. Doggerel measure is used in the very earliest comedies (Z. Z. 
Z. and C. of E. in particular) in the mouths of comic characters, but 
nowhere else in those plays, and never anywhere in plays written 
after 1598. 

11. Rhyme occurs frequently in the early plays, but diminishes 
with comparative regularity from that period until the latest. Thus, 
in Z. Z. Z. there are about iioo rhyming verses (about one-third 
of the whole number), in the M. N. D. about 900, in Richard II. 
and R. and J. about 500 each, while in Cor. there are only about 
40, in the Temp, only two, and in the W. T. none at all, except in 
the chorus introducing act iv. Songs, interludes, and other matter 



I 



I 



Notes 179 

not in ten-syllable measure are not included in this enumeration. 
In the present play, out of some 2600 ten-syllable verses, only 34 
are in rhyme. 

Alter )iate rhymes are found only in the plays written before 1599 
or 1600. In the M. of V. there are only four lines at the end of 
iii. 2. In Much Ado and A. Y. L. we also find a few lines, but 
none at all in this and subsequent plays. 

Rhymed couplets, or "rhyme-tags," are often found at the end of 
scenes. In Ham. 14 out of 20 scenes, and in Macb. 21 out of 28, 
have such "tags "; but in the latest plays they are not so frequent. 
In this play only 4 out of 42 have them. The Tef?ip. has but one, 
and the IV. T. none. 

12. In this edition of Shakespeare, the final -ed of past tenses 
and participles in verse is printed -d when the word is to be pro- 
nounced in the ordinary way ; as in glowed, line 4, transform'' d, line 
12, beloved, line 16, etc., of the first scene. But when the metre re- 
quires that the -ed be made a separate syllable, the e is retained ; 
as in entertained, ii. i. 46, where the word is a quadrisyllable. The 
only variation from this rule is in verbs like cry, die, sue, etc., the 
-ed of which is very rarely, if ever, made a separate syllable. 

Shakespeare's Use of Verse and Prose in the Plays. — 
This is a subject to which the critics have given very little atten- 
tion, but it is an interesting study. This play has scenes entirely 
in verse, and others in which verse and prose are mixed. In 
general, we may say that verse is used for what is distinctly poetical, 
and prose for what is not poetical. The distinction, however, is not 
so clearly marked in the earlier as in the later plays. The second 
scene of the M. of V., for instance, is in prose, because Portia and 
Nerissa are talking about the suitors in a familiar and playful way ; 
but in the T. G. of V., where Julia and Lucetta are discussing the 
suitors of the former in much the same fashion, the scene is in verse. 
Dowden, commenting on Rich. II., remarks : " Had Shakespeare 
written the play a few years later, we may be certain that the 
gardener and his servants (iii. 4) would not have uttered stately 



1 80 Notes 

speeches in verse, but would have spoken homely prose, and that 
humour would have mingled with the pathos of the scene. The 
same remark may be made with reference to the subsequent scene 
(v. 5) in which his groom visits the dethroned king in the Tower." 
Comic characters and those in low life generally speak in prose in 
the later plays, as Dowden intimates, but in the very earliest ones 
doggerel verse is much used instead. See on 10 above. 

The change from prose to verse is well illustrated in the third 
scene of the M. of V. It begins with plain prosaic talk about a 
business matter ; but when Antonio enters, it rises at once to the 
higher level of poetry. The sight of Antonio reminds Shylock of 
his hatred of the Merchant, and the passion expresses itself in verse, 
the vernacular tongue of poetry. We have a similar change in 
the first scene of /. C, where, after the quibbling " chaff " of the 
mechanics about their trades, the mention of Pompey reminds the 
Tribune of their plebeian fickleness, and his scorn and indignation 
flame out in most eloquent verse. 

The reasons for the choice of prose or verse are not always so 
clear as in these instances. We are seldom puzzled to explain the 
prose, but not unfrequently we meet with verse where we might 
expect prose. As Professor Corson remarks (^Introduction to Shake- 
speare^ 1889), " Shakespeare adopted verse as the general tenor of 
his language, and therefore expressed much in verse that is within 
the capabilities of prose ; in other words, his verse constantly 
encroaches upon the domain of prose, but his prose can never be 
said to encroach upon the domain of verse." If in rare instances 
we think we find exceptions to this latter statement, and prose 
actually seems to usurp the place of verse, I believe that careful 
study of the passage will prove the supposed exception to be 
apparent rather than real. 

Some Books for Teachers and Students. — A few out of 
the many books that might be commended to the teacher and the 
critical student are the following: Halliwell-Phillipps's Outlines 
of the Life of Shakespeare (7th ed. 1887); Sidney Lee's Life of 



I 



Notes 1 8 1 

Shakespeare (1898 ; for ordinary students, the abridged ed. of 1899 
is preferable); Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon (3d ed. 1902); 
Littledale's ed. of Dyce's Glossa?y (1902); Bartlett's Concordance 
to Shakespeare (1895); Abbott's Shakespearian Granwiar (1873) ; 
Furness's "New Variorum" ed. of the plays (encyclopaedic and 
exhaustive) ; Dowden's Shakspere : His Mind and Art (American 
ed. 1 881); Hudson's Life, Art, and Characters of Shakespeare 
(revised ed. 1882); Mrs. Jameson's Characteristics of Women 
(several eds. ; some with the title, Shakespeare Heroines') ; Ten 
Brink's Five Lectures on Shakespeare (1895); Boas's Shakespeare 
and His Predecessors (1895); Dyer's Folk-lore of Shakespeare 
(American ed. 1884); Gervinus's Shakespeare Coi7imentaries (Bun- 
nett's translation, 1875); Wordsworth's Shakespeare's Knowledge of 
the Bible (3d ed. 1880); Elson's Shakespeare in Music (1901). 

Some of the above books will be useful to all readers who are 
interested in special subjects or in general criticism of Shakespeare. 
Among those which are better suited to the needs of ordinary 
readers and students, the following may be mentioned: Mabie's 
William Shakespeare : Poet, Dramatist, and Man (1900); Dow- 
den's Shakspere Primer (1877; small but invaluable); Rolfe's 
Shakespeare the Boy (1896 ; not a mere juvenile book, but useful 
for reference concerning the home and school life, the games and 
sports, the manners, customs, and folk-lore of the poet's time); 
Guerber's Myths of Greece and Rome (for young students who may 
need information on mythological allusions not explained in the 
notes). 

H. Snowden Ward's Shakespeare's Toivn and Times (2d ed. 1902) 
and John Leyland's Shakespeare Country (2d ed. 1903) are copiously 
illustrated books (yet inexpensive) which may be particularly com- 
mended for school libraries. 

Abbreviations in the Notes. — The abbreviations of the 
names of Shakespeare's plays will be readily understood ; as 
T. N. for Twelfth Night, Cor. for Coriolamis, 3 Hen, VL. for 
The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth, etc. P. P. refers to 



1 82 Notes 

The Passionate Pilgrim ; V. and A. to Venus and Adonis ; L. C. 
to Lover'' s Complaint ; and Sonn. to the Sonnets. 

Other abbreviations that hardly need explanation are Cf. {confer, 
compare), Fol. (following), Id. {idein, the same), and Prol. (pro- 
logue). The numbers of the lines in the references (except for the 
present play) are those of the " Globe " edition (the cheapest and 
best edition of Shakespeare in one compact volume), which is now 
generally accepted as the standard for line-numbers in works of ref- 
erence (Schmidt's Lexicon, Abbott's Grammar, Dowden's Primer, 
the publications of the New Shakspere Society, etc.). 

The Historical Sources of the Play. — The following are 
the chief passages in North's Plutarch which illustrate the play : — 

Act I. Scene IV. — " Cicero on the other side, being at that 
time the chiefest man of authority and estimation in the city, he 
stirred up all men against Antonius : so that in the end he made 
the senate pronounce him an enemy to his country, and appointed 
young Caesar sergeants to carry axes before him, and such other 
signs as were incident to the dignity of a Consul or Praetor : and, 
moreover, sent Hircius and Pansa, then Consuls, to drive Antonius 
out of Italy. These two Consuls, together with Caesar, who also 
had an army, went against Antonius that besieged the city of 
Modena, and there overthrew him in battle : but both the Consuls 
were slain there. 

"Antonius, flying upon this overthrow, fell into great misery all 
at once : but the chiefest want of all other, and that pinched him 
most, was famine. Howbeit he was of such a strong nature, that 
by patience he would overcome any adversity : and the heavier 
fortune lay upon him, the more constant shewed he himself. Every 
man that feeleth want or adversity, knoweth by virtue and discre- 
tion what he should do : but when indeed they are overlaid with 
extremity, and be sore oppressed, few have the hearts to follow that 
which they praise and commend, and much less to avoid that they 
reprove and mislike : but rather to the contrary, they yield to their 



Notes 183 

accustomed easy life, and through faint heart, and lack of courage, 
do change their first mind and purpose. And therefore it was a 
wonderful example to the soldiers, to see Antonius, that was 
brought up in all fineness and superfluity, so easily to drink puddle 
water, and to eat wild fruits and roots : and moreover, it is reported, 
that even as they passed the Alps, they did eat the barks of trees, 
and such beasts as never man tasted of their flesh before. . . . 

" Antonius being thus inclined, the last and extremest mischief 
of all other (to wit, the love of Cleopatra) lighted on him, who did 
waken and stir up many vices yet hidden in him, and were never 
seen to any : and if any spark of goodness or hope of rising were 
left him, Cleopatra quenched it straight, and made it worse than 
before. The manner how he fell in love with her was this. An- 
tonius, going to make war with the Parthians, sent to command 
Cleopatra to appear personally before him when he came into Cilicia, 
to answer unto such accusations as were laid against her, being 
this : that she had aided Cassius and Brutus in their war against 
him. The messenger sent unto Cleopatra, to make this summons 
unto her, was called Dellius ; who when he had throughly consid- 
ered her beauty, the excellent grace and sweetness of her tongue, 
he nothing mistrusted that Antonius would do any hurt to so noble 
a lady, but rather assured himself, that within few days she should 
be in great favour with him. Thereupon he did her great honour, 
and persuaded her to come into Cilicia, as honourably furnished as 
she could possible ; and bad her not to be afraid at all of Antonius, 
for he was a more courteous lord than any that she had ever seen. 
Cleopatra on the other side, beheving Dellius' words, and guessing 
by the former access and credit she had with Julius Caesar and C. 
Pompey (the son of Pompey the Great) only for her beauty, she 
began to have good hope that she might more easily win Antonius. 
For Cgesar and Pompey knew her when she was but a young thing, 
and knew not then what the world meant: but now she went to 
Antonius at the age when a woman's beauty is at the prime, and 
she also of best judgment. So she furnished herself with a world 



184 Notes 



1 



of gifts, store of gold and silver, and of riches and other sumptuous 
ornaments, as is credible enough she might bring from so great a 
house, and from so wealthy and rich a realm as Egypt was. But 
yet she carried nothing with her wherein she trusted more than in 
herself, and in the charms and enchantment of her passing beauty 
and grace. 

Act II. Scene II. — "Therefore, when she was sent unto by 
divers letters, both from Antonius himself and also from his friends, 
she made so light of it, and mocked Antonius so much, that she 
disdained to set forward otherwise, but to take her barge in the 
river of Cydnus ; the poop whereof was of gold, the sails of purple, 
and the oars of silver, which kept stroke in rowing after the sound 
of the music of flutes, howboys,^ cithernes,^ viols, and such other 
instruments as they played upon in the barge. And now for the 
person of her self, she was laid under a pavilion of cloth of gold of 
tissue, apparelled and attired like the goddess Venus, commonly 
drawn in picture : and hard by her, on either hand of her, pretty 
fair boys apparelled as painters do set forth god Cupid, with little 
fans in their hands, with the which they fanned wind upon her. 
Her ladies and gentlewomen also, the fairest of them, were appar- 
elled like the nymphs Nereids (which are the mermaids of the 
waters) and like the Graces ; some steering the helm, others tend- 
ing the tackle and ropes of the barge, out of which there came a 
wonderful passing sweet savour of perfumes, that perfumed the 
wharf's side, pestered^ with innumerable multitudes of people. 
Some of them followed the barge all along the river-side : others 
also ran out of the city to see her coming in. So that in the end, 
there ran such multitudes of people one after another to see her, 
that Antonius was left post* alone in the market-place, in his impe- 
rial seat, to give audience : and there went a rumour in the people's 

1 hautboys. In 2 Hen. IV. ill. 2. 351 (the only instance of the word 
in S.) the folio has " hoeboy." 2 guitars. 

3 crowded. Cf. Cor. iv. 6. 7, 4 posted. 



Notes 185 



mouths, that the goddess Venus was come to play with the god 
Bacchus, for the general good of all Asia. When Cleopatra landed, 
Antonius sent to invite her to supper to him. But she sent him 
word again, he should do better rather to come and sup with her. 
Antonius therefore, to shew himself courteous unto her at her 
arrival, was contented to obey her, and went to supper to her : 
where he found such passing sumptuous fare, that no tongue can 
express it. . . . 

" Now Antonius was so ravished with the love of Cleopatra, that 
though his wife Fulvia had great wars, and much ado with Caesar 
for his affairs, and that the army of the Parthians (the which the 
king's lieutenants had given to the only 1 leading of Labienus) was 
now assembled in Mesopotamia, ready to invade Syria ; yet (as 
though all this had nothing touched him) he yielded himself to go 
with Cleopatra unto Alexandria, where he spent and lost in childish 
sports (as a man might say) and idle pastimes, the most precious 
thing a man can spend (as Antiphon saith), and that is, time. For 
they made an order between them, which they called Amimetobion 
(as much to say, no life comparable and matchable with it), one 
feasting each other by turns, and in cost exceeding all measure and 
reason. And for proof hereof, I have heard my grandfather Lam- 
pryas report, that one Philotas, a physician, born in the city of Am- 
phissa, told him that he was at that present time in Alexandria, and 
studied physic ; and that having acquaintance with one of An- 
tonius' cooks, he took him with him to Antonius' house (being a 
young man desirous to see things), to shew him the wonderful 
sumptuous charge and preparation of one only supper. When he 
was in the kitchen, and saw a world of diversities of meats, and 
amongst others eight wild boars roasted whole, he began to wonder 
at it, and said : ' Sure you have a great number of guests to supper.' 
The cook fell a-laughing, and answered him : ' No,' quoth he, * not 
many guests, nor above twelve in all : . but yet all that is boiled 

1 sole. 



1 86 Notes 

or roasted must be served in whole, or else it would be marred 
straight ; for Antonius peradventure will sup presently or it may be 
a pretty while hence, or likely enough he will defer it longer, for 
that he hath drunk well to-day, or else hath had some other great 
matters in hand : and therefore we do not dress one supper only, 
but many suppers, because we are uncertain of the hour he will 
sup in.' . . . 

Act I. Scene I. — "But now again to Cleopatra. Plato writeth 
that there are four kinds of flattery : but Cleopatra divided it into 
many kinds. For she (were it in sport, or in matters of earnest) 
still devised sundry new delights to have Antonius at commandment, 
never leaving him night nor day, nor once letting him go out of her 
sight. For she would play at dice with him, drink with him, and 
hunt commonly with him, and also be with him when he went to 
any exercise or activity of body. And sometime also, when he 
would go up and down the city disguised like a slave in the night, 
and would peer into poor men's windows and their shops, and scold 
and brawl with them within the house, Cleopatra would be also in 
a chamber-maid's array, and amble up and down the streets with 
him, so that oftentimes Antonius bare away both mocks and blows. 
Now though most men misliked this manner, yet the Alexandrians 
were commonly glad of this jollity, and liked it well, saying very 
gallantly and wisely : ' that Antonius shewed them a comical face, 
to wit, a merry countenance : and the Romans a tragical face, to 
say, a grim look.' 

Act II. Scene V. — But to reckon up all the foolish sports they 
made, revelling in this sort, it were too fond^ a part of me, and 
therefore I will only tell you one among the rest. On a time he 
went to angle for fish, and when he could take none, he was as 
angry as could be, because Cleopatra stood by. Wherefore he 
secretly commanded the fishermen, that when he cast in his line, 
they should straight dive under the water, and put a fish on his hook 

1 foolish. 



Notes 187 

which they had taken before : and so snatched up his angling-rod, 
and brought up a fish twice or thrice. Cleopatra found ^ it straight, 
yet she seemed not to see it, but wondered at his excellent fishing : 
but when she was alone by herself among her own people, she told 
them how it was, and bad them the next morning to be on the 
water to see the fishing. A number of people came to the haven, 
and got into the fisher-boats to see this fishing. Antonius then 
threw in his line, and Cleopatra straight commanded one of her 
men to dive under water before Antonius' men, and to put some 
old salt-fish upon his bait, like unto those that are brought out of 
the country of Pont. When he had hung the fish on his hook, 
Antonius, thinking he had taken a fish indeed, snatched up his line 
presently.2 Then they all fell a-laughing. Cleopatra laughing 
also, said unto him : ' Leave us, my lord, Egyptians (which dwell in 
the country of Pharus and Canobus) your angling-rod : this is not 
thy profession, thou must hunt after conquering of realms and 
countries.' 

Act I. Scene II. — "Now Antonius delighting in these fond 
and childish pastimes, very ill news were brought him from two 
places. The first from Rome, that his brother Lucius and Fulvia 
his wife fell out first between themselves, and afterwards fell to 
open war with Caesar, and had brought all to nought, that they 
were both driven to fly out of Italy. The second news, as bad 
as the first : that Labienus conquered all Asia with the army of 
the Parthians, from the river of Euphrates and from Syria unto 
the country of Lydia and Ionia. Then began Antonius with much 
ado a little to rouse himself, as if he had been wakened out of a 
deep sleep, and, as a man may say, coming out of a great drunken- 
ness. So, first of all he bent himself against the Parthians, and 
went as far as the country of Phoenicia : but there he received 
lamentable letters from his wife Fulvia. Whereupon he straight 
returned towards Italy, with two hundred sail: and as he went, 

1 discovered. 2 at once, Cf. ii. 2. 160, iii. 4. 15, etc. below. 



1 88 Notes 

took up his friends by the way that fled out of Italy to come to 
him. By them he was informed, that his wife Fulvia was the only 
cause of this war : who being of a peevish, crooked, and trouble- 
some nature, had purposely raised this uproar in Italy, in hope 
thereby to withdraw him from Cleopatra. 

Act II. Scene II. — " But by good fortune his wife Fulvia, going 
to meet with Antonius, sickened by the way, and died in the city 
of Sicyon : and therefore Octavius Cgesar and he were the easilier 
made friends again. For when Antonius landed in Italy, and that 
men saw Caesar asked nothing of him, and that Antonius on the 
other side laid all the fault and burden on his wife Fulvia ; the 
friends of both parties would not suffer them to unrip any old 
matters, and to prove or defend who had the wrong or right, 
and who was the first procurer of this war, fearing to make mat- 
ters worse between them : but they made them friends together, 
and divided the empire of Rome between them, making the sea 
Ionium the bounds of their division. For they gave all the prov- 
inces eastward unto Antonius, and the countries westward unto 
Csesar, and left Africa unto Lepidus : and made a law, that they 
three, one after another, should make their friends Consuls, when 
they would not be themselves. This seemed to be a sound coun- 
sel, but yet it was to be confirmed with a straighter ^ bond, which 
fortune offered thus. There was Octavia, the eldest sister of 
Caesar, not by one mother, for she came of Ancharia, and Caesar 
himself afterwards of Accia. It is reported, that he dearly loved 
his sister Octavia, for indeed she was a noble lady, and left the 
widow of her first husband Caius Marcellus, who died not long 
before : and it seemed also that Antonius had been widower ever 
since the death of his wife Fulvia. For he denied not that he 
kept Cleopatra, neither did he confess that he had her as his wife : 
and so with reason he did defend the love he bare unto this Egyp- 
tian Cleopatra. Thereupon every man did set forward this mar- 

1 stricter. 



Notes 189 

riage, hoping thereby that this lady Octavia, having an excellent 
grace, wisdom, and honesty, joined unto so rare a beauty, when 
she were with Antonius (he loving her as so worthy a lady de- 
serveth) she should be a good mean ^ to keep good love and 
amity betwixt her brother and him. So when Csesar and he had 
made the match between them, they both went to Rome about 
this marriage, although it was against the law that a widow should 
be married within ten months after her husband's death. How- 
beit the senate dispensed with the law, and so the marriage 
proceeded accordingly. 

Act II. Scenes VI mid VII. — " Sextus Pompeius at that time 
kept in Sicilia, and so made inroads into Italy with a great num- 
ber of pinnaces and other pirates' ships, of the which were cap- 
tains two notable pirates, Menas and Menecrates, who so scoured 
all the sea thereabouts, that none durst peep out with a sail. 
Furthermore, Sextus Pompeius had dealt very friendly with An- 
tonius, for he had courteously received his mother when she fled 
out of Italy with Fulvia, and therefore they thought good to make 
peace with him. So they met all three together by the mount of 
Misena, upon a hill that runneth far into the sea : Pompey having 
his ships riding hard by at anchor, and Antonius and Caesar their 
armies upon the shore-side, directly over against him. Now, after 
they had agreed that Sextus Pompeius should have Sicily and 
Sardinia, with this condition, that he should rid the sea of all 
thieves and pirates, and make it safe for passengers, and withal, 
that he should send a certain 2 of wheat to Rome, one of them did 
feast another, and drew cuts ^ who should begin. It was Pom- 
peius' chance to invite them first. Whereupon Antonius asked 
him: 'And where shall we sup?' 'There,' said Pompey; and 
shewed him his admiral galley which had six banks of oars : ' that,' 
said he, ' is my father's house they have left me.' He spake it to 

1 means. See R. and J. iii. 3. 45, etc. 2 a certain quantity. 

3 lots. Cf. C. of E. v. I. 422^ " We'll draw cuts for the senior." 



li 



190 Notes _^ 

taunt Antonius, because he had his father's house, that was Pom- 
pey the Great. So he cast anchors enow ^ into the sea, to make 
his galley fast, and then built a bridge of wood to convey them to 
his galley, from the head of mount Misena: and there he wel- 
comed them, and made them great cheer. Now in the midst of 
the feast, when they fell to be merry with Antonius' love unto 
Cleopatra, Menas the pirate came to Pompey, and whispering in 
his ear, said unto him : ' Shall I cut the cables of the anchors, and 
make thee lord not only of Sicily and Sardinia, but of the whole 
empire of Rome besides ? ' Pompey, having paused a while upon 
it, at length answered him : ' Thou shouldest have done it, and 
never have told it me ; but now we must content us with that we 
have : as for myself, I was never taught to break my faith, nor to 
be counted a traitor.' The other two also did likewise feast him 
in their camp, and then he returned into Sicily. 

Act II. Scene III. — "Antonius, after this agreement made, 
sent Ventidius before into Asia to stay the Parthians, and to keep 
them they should come no further : and he himself in the mean 
time, to gratify Caesar, was contented to be chosen Julius Caesar's 
priest and sacrificer, and so they jointly together dispatched all 
great matters concerning the state of the empire. But in all other 
manner of sports and exercises, wherein they passed the time away 
the one with the other, Antonius was ever inferior unto Caesar, and 
alway lost, which grieved him much. With Antonius there was a 
soothsayer or astronomer of Egypt, that could cast a figure, and 
judge of men's nativities, to tell them what should happen to 
them. He, either to please Cleopatra, or else for that he found 
it so by his art, told Antonius plainly, that his fortune (which of 
itself was excellent good, and very great) was altogether blem- 
ished and obscured by Caesar's fortune : and therefore he coun- 
selled him utterly to leave his company, and to get him as far from 
him as he could, ' For thy demon,' said he (that is to say, the 

1 enough. Cf. i. 4. 11 below, 



Notes 191 



good angel and spirit that keepeth thee), *is afraid of his: and 
being courageous and high when he is alone, becometh fearful 
and timorous when he cometh near unto the other.' Howsoever 
it was, the events ensuing proved the Egyptian's words true : ifor 
it is said, that as often as they two drew cuts for pastime, who 
should have anything, or whether they played at dice, Antonius 
alway lost. Oftentimes when they were disposed to see cock- 
fight, or quails that were taught to fight one with another, Csesar's 
cocks or quails did ever overcome. . . . 

Act III. Scene I. — "In the meantime, Ventidius once again 
overcame Pacorus (Orodes' son, king of Parthia) in a battle fought 
in the country of Cyrrestica, he being come again with a great 
army to invade Syria : at which battle was slain a great number 
of the Parthians, and among them Pacorus, the king's own son. 
This noble exploit, as famous as ever any was, was a full revenge 
to the Romans of the shame and loss they had received before by 
the death of Marcus Crassus : and he made the Parthians fly, and 
glad to keep themselves within the confines and territories of Meso- 
potamia and Media, after they had thrice together been overcome 
in several battles. Howbeit Ventidius durst not undertake to fol- 
low them any farther, fearing lest he should have gotten Antonius' 
displeasure by it. Notwithstanding, he led his army against them 
that had rebelled, and conquered them again : amongst whom he 
besieged Antiochus king of Commagena, who offered him to give 
a thousand talents to be pardoned his rebellion, and promised ever 
after to be at Antonius' commandment. But Ventidius made him 
answer, that he should send unto Antonius ; who was not far off, 
and would not suffer Ventidius to make any peace with Antiochus, 
to the end that yet this little exploit should pass in his name, and 
that they should not think he did anything but by his lieutenant 
Ventidius. The siege grew very long, because they that were in 
the town, seeing they could not be received upon no reasonable 
composition, determined valiantly to defend themselves to the last 
man. Thus Antonius did nothing, and yet received great shame, 



192 Notes 



n 



repenting him much that he took not their first offer. And yet at 
the last he was glad to make truce with Antiochus, and to take 
three hundred talents for composition. Thus after he had set 
order for the state and affairs of Syria, he returned again to 
Athens : and having given Ventidius such honours as he deserved, 
he sent him to Rome, to triumph for the Parthians. Ventidius 
was the only man that ever triumphed of the Parthians until this 
present day, a mean man born, and of no noble house or family : 
who only came to that he attained unto, through Antonius' 
friendship, the which delivered him happy occasion to achieve 
great matters. And yet to say truly, he did so well quit himself 
in all his enterprises, that he confirmed that which was spoken 
of Antonius and Caesar, to wit, that they were alway more fortunate 
when they made war by their lieutenants than by themselves. For , 
Sossius, one of Antonius' lieutenants in Syria, did notable good ■j 
service : and Canidius, whom he had also left his lieutenant in the 
borders of Armenia, did conquer it all. So did he also overcome 
the kings of the Iberians and Albanians, and went on with his ■ 
conquests unto mount Caucasus. By these conquests the fame of - 
Antonius' power increased more and more, and grew dreadful 
unto all the barbarous nations. 

Act III. Scene IV. — "But Antonius, notwithstanding, grew to j 
be marvellously offended with Cgesar, upon certain reports that j 
had been brought unto him, and so took sea to go towards Italy 
with three hundred sail. And because those of Brundusium would 
not receive his army into their haven, he went farther unto Taren- 
tum. There his wife Octavia, that came out of Greece with him, 
besought him to send her unto her brother, the which he did. 
Octavia at that time was great with child, and moreover had a sec- 
ond daughter by him, and yet she put herself in journey, and met 
with her brother Octavius Caesar by the way, who brought his two 
chief friends, Maecenas and Agrippa, with him. She took them 
aside, and with all the instance ^ she could possible, intreated them 

1 urgency. 



Notes 193 



they would not suffer her, that was the happiest woman of the 
world, to become now the most wretched and unfortunatest creature 
of all other. ' For now,' said she, ' every man's eyes do gaze on 
me, that am the sister of one of the emperors, and wife of the 
other. And if the worst counsel take place (which the gods for- 
bid) and that they grow to wars: for yourselves, it is uncertain to 
which of them two the gods have assigned the victory or overthrow. 
But for me, on which side soever the victory fall, my state can be 
but most miserable still.' . . . 

" When Octavia was returned to Rome from Athens, Caesar com- 
manded her to go out of Antonius' house, and to dwell by herself, 
because he had abused ^ her. Octavia answered him again, that 
she would not forsake her husband's house, and that if he had no 
other occasion to make war with him, she prayed him then to take 
no thought for her : ' For,' said she, ' it were too shameful a thing, 
that two so famous captains should bring in civil wars among the 
Romans, the one for the love of a woman, and the other for the 
jealousy betwixt one another.' Now as she spake the word, so 
did she also perform the deed : for she kept still in Antonius' 
house, as if he had been there, and very honestly and honourably 
kept his children, not only those she had by him, but the other 
which her husband had by Fulvia. Furthermore, when Antonius 
sent any of his men to Rome, to sue for any office in the common- 
wealth, she received them very courteously, and so used herself 
unto her brother, that she obtained the things she requested. 

Act III. Scene VI. — " Howbeit thereby, thinking no hurt, she 
did Antonius great hurt. For her honest love and regard to her 
husband made every man hate him, when they saw he did so un- 
kindly use so noble a lady : but the greatest cause of their malice 
unto him was for the division of lands he made among his children 
in the city of Alexandria. And, to confess a troth,'-^ it was too 

1 deceived. See Much Ado, v. 2, 100, etc. 

2 truth. See M. N. D. ii. 2, 36, etc. 

ANTONY — 13 



194 Notes 

arrogant and insolent a part, and done (as a man would say) in 
derision and contempt of the Romans. For he assembled all the 
people in the showplace, where young men do exercise themselves, 
and there, upon a high tribunal silvered, he set two chairs of gold, 
the one for himself, and the other for Cleopatra, and lower chairs 
for his children ; then he openly published before the assembly, that 
first of all he did establish Cleopatra queen of Egypt, of Cyprus, 
of Lydia, and of the lower Syria ; and at that time also Caesarion 
king of the same realms. This Caesarion was supposed to be the 
son of Julius Csesar, who had left Cleopatra great with child. 
Secondly, he called the sons he had by her the kings of kings, and 
gave Alexander for his portion Armenia, Media, and Parthia, when 
he had conquered the country ; and unto Ptolemy for his portion 
Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. And therewithal he brought out 
Alexander in a long gown after the fashion of the Medes with a 
high cop-tank ^ hat on his head, narrow in the top, as the kings 
of the Medes and Armenians do use to wear them: and Ptolemy 
apparelled in a cloak after the Macedonian manner, with slippers 
on his feet and a broad hat, with a royal band or diadem. Such 
was the apparel and old attire of the ancient kings and successors 
of Alexander the Great. So after his sons had done their humble 
duties, and kissed their father and mother, presently a company of 
Armenian soldiers, set there of purpose, compassed the one about, 
and a like company of Macedonians the other. Now for Cleopatra, 
she did not only wear at that time (but at all other times else when 
she came abroad) the apparel of the goddess Isis, and so gave 
audience unto all her subjects, as a new Isis. 

" Octavius Caesar reporting all these things unto the Senate, and 
oftentimes accusing him to the whole people and assembly in 
Rome, he thereby stirred up all the Romans against him. An- 
tonius on the other side sent to Rome likewise to accuse him, and 

1 conical. Cf. T. of S. v. i. 69: "a copatain hat" (one with a high 
crown) . 



II 



Notes 195 

the chiefest points of his accusations he charged him with were 
these. First, that having spoiled Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, he did 
not give him his part of the isle. Secondly, that he did detain in 
his hands the ships he lent him to make that war. Thirdly, that 
having put Lepidus their companion and triumvirate 1 out of his 
part of the empire, and having deprived him of all honours, he 
retained for himself the lands and revenues thereof, which had 
been assigned unto him fur his part. And last of all, that he had 
m manner divided all Italy amongst his own soldiers, and had left 
no part of it for his soldiers. Octavius Caesar answered him again : 
that for 2 Lepidus, he had indeed deposed him, and taken his part 
of the empire from him, because he did over cruelly use his author- 
ity. And secondly, for 2 the conquests he had made by force of 
arms, he was contented Antonius should have his part of them, so 
that he would likewise let him have his part of Armenia. And 
thirdly, that for 2 his soldiers, they should seek for nothing in Italy, 
because they possessed Media and Parthia, the which provinces 
they had added to the empire of Rome, valiantly fighting with 
their emperor and captain. . . . 

Act III. Scene VII. — " Now after that Caesar had made suffi- 
cient preparation, he proclaimed open war against Cleopatra, and 
made the people to abolish the power and empire of Antonius, 
because he had before given it up unto a woman. And Caesar said 
furthermore, that Antonius was not master of himself, but that 
Cleopatra had brought him beside himself by her charms and 
amorous poisons : and that they, that should make war with them, 
should be Mardian the eunuch, Photixms, and Iras (a woman 
Cleopatra's bed-chamber, that frizzled her hair, and dressed hej 
head) and Charmion, the which were those that ruled all the 
affairs of Antonius' empire. 

Act IV. Scene XII. — " Before this war, as it is reported, many 
signs and wonders fell out. . . . The admiral-galley of Cleopatra 

1 sic ; for triumvir. 2 as for. Cf. iii. 13. 51. below. 



196 



Notes 



was. called Antoniad, in the which there chanced a marvellous i!ll 
sign : swallows had bred under the poop of her ship, and there 
came others after them that drave away the first, and plucked down 
their nests. 

Act III. Scene VI. — " Now when all things were ready, and 
that they drew near to fight, it was found, that Antonius had no 
less than 500 good ships of war, among which there were many 
galleys that had eight and ten banks of oars, the which were 
sumptuously furnished, not so meet for fight as for triumph : an 
hundred thousand footmen, and 12,000 horsemen; and had with 
him to aid him these kings and subjects following: Bocchus king 
of Lybia, Tarcondemus king of high Cilicia, Archelaus king of 
Cappadocia, Philadelphus king of Paphlagonia, Mithridates king 
of Comagena, and Adallas king of Thracia. All which were there? 
every man in person. The residue that were absent, sent their 
armies : as Polemon, king of Pont, Manchus king of Arabia, Hero- 
des king of Jewry ; and furthermore Amyntas king of Lycaonia 
and of the Galatians : and besides all these, he had all the aid the 
king of Medes sent unto him. Now for Caesar, he had 250 ships 
of war, 80,000 footmen, and well near as many horsemen as hi'.i 
enemy Antonius. Antonius for his part had all under his domin- 
ion from Armenia and the river of Euphrates, unto the sea Ionium 
and Illyricum. Octavius Csesar had also, for his part, all that 
which was in our hemisphere or half-part of the world, from 
lUyria unto the ocean sea upon the west : then all from the ocean 
unto mare Siculum : and from Africa, all that which is against 
Italy, as Gaul and Spain. Furthermore, all, from the province of 
Cyrenia to Ethiopia, was subject unto Antonius. 

Act III. Scene VII. — " Now Antonius was made so subject to a 
woman's will, that though he was a great deal the stronger by land, 
yet for Cleopatra's sake he would needs have this battle tried by 
sea: though he saw before his eyes, that for lack of water-men his 
captains did prest^ by force all sorts of men out of Greece that 

1 impress. 



Notes 197 



they could take up in the field, as travellers, muleteers, reapers, 
harvest-men, and young boys ; and yet could they not sufficiently 
furnish his galleys : so that the most part of them were empty, and 
could scant row, because they lacked water-men enough. But on 
the contrary side, Caesar's ships were not built for pomp, high and 
great, only for a sight and bravery,^ but they were light of yarage,^ 
armed and furnished with water-men as many as they needed, and 
had them all in readiness in the havens of Tarentum and Brundu- 
sium. So Octavius Caesar sent unto Antonius, to will him to delay 
no more time, but to come on with his army into Italy : and that 
for his own part he would give him safe harbour to land without 
any trouble ; and that he would withdraw his army from the sea, 
as far as one horse could run, until he had put his army ashore, 
and had lodged his men. Antonius on the other side bravely sent 
him word again and challenged the combat of him man for man, 
though he were the elder ; and that if he refused him so, he would 
then fight a battle with him in the fields of Pharsalia as Julius 
Caesar and Pompey had done before. Now whilst Antonius rode 
at anchor, lying idly in harbour at the head of Actium, in the place 
where the city of Nicopolis standeth at this present, Caesar had 
quickly passed the sea lonitmi, and taken a place called Toryne, 
before Antonius understood that he had taken ship. . . . 

" So when Antonius had determined to fight by sea, he set all 
the other ships on fire but three score ships of Egypt, and reserved 
only the best and greatest galleys, from three banks unto ten banks 
of oars. * Into them he put two and twenty thousand fighting men, 
with two thousand darters and slingers. Now as he was setting 
his men in order of battle, there was a captain, a valiant man, that 
had served Antonius in many battles and conflicts, and had all his 
body hacked and cut : who, as Antonius passed by him, cried out 
unto him, and said : * O noble emperor, how cometh it to pass that 

1 show. Cf. Ham. p. 270. 

2 management. Qi.yare in iii. 7. 35, etc., below. 



198 



Notes 



you trust to these vile brittle ships ? What, do you mistrust these 
wounds of mine, and this sword? Let the Egyptians and Phoeni- 
cians fight by sea, and set us on the main land, where we use to 
conquer or to be slain on our feet.' Antonius passed by him and 
said never a word, but only beckoned to him with his hand and 
head, as though he willed him to be of good courage, although 
indeed he had no great courage himself. . . . 

Act III. Scene X. — " Howbeit the battle was yet of even hand, 
and the victory doubtful, being indifferent to both ; when sud- 
denly they saw the threescore ships of Cleopatra busily about their 
yard-masts and hoising^ sail to fly. So they fled through the 
middest '^ of them that were in fight, for they had been placed 
behind the great ships, and did marvellously disorder the other 
ships. For the enemies themselves wondered much to see them 
sail in that sort, with full sail towards Peloponnesus. There 
Antonius shewed plainly, that he had not only lost the courage 
and heart of an emperor, but also of a valiant man ; and that he 
was not his own man (proving that true which an old man spake 
in mirth, that the soul of a lover lived in another body, and not 
in his own) ; he was so carried away with the vain love of this 
woman, as if- he had been glued unto her, and that she could not 
have removed without moving of him also. For when he saw 
Cleopatra's ship under sail, he forgot, forsook, and betrayed them 
that fought for him, imbarked upon a galley with five banks of 
oars, to follow her that had already begun to overthrow him, and 
would in the end be his utter destruction. . . . 

Act III. Scene XI. — "Then Antonius sent unto Canidius, to 
return with his army into Asia by Macedon. Now for himself, he 
determined to cross over into Africa, and took one of his carects ^ 

1 hoisting. See Rich. III. iv. 4. 529. 

2 midst. The early eds. have iniddest in 2 Hen. IV. iv. 8. 64. 

3 ships of burden. Cf. C. of E. iii. 2. 140 : " whole armadoes of 
caracks." 



Notes 199 

or hulks loden ^ with gold and silver, and other rich carriage,^ and 
gave it unto his friends, commanding them to depart, and seek to 
save themselves. They answered him weeping, that they would 
neither do it, nor yet forsake him. Then Antonius very courteously 
and lovingly did comfort them, and prayed them to depart ; and 
wrote unto Theophilus, governor of Corinth, that he would see 
them safe, and help to hide them in some secret place, until they 
had made their way and peace with Caesar. . . . 

" But now to return to Antonius again. Canidius himself came 
to bring him news, that he had lost all his army by land at Actium : 
on the other side he was advertised also, that Herodes king of Jurie, 
who had also certain legions and bands with him, was revolted unto 
Caesar, and all the other kings in like manner : so that, saving those 
that were about him, he had none left him. All this notwithstand- 
ing did nothing trouble him : and it seemed that he was contented 
to forgo all his hope, and so to be rid of all his cares and troubles. 
Thereupon he left his solitary house he had built by the sea, which 
he called Tiinoneon, and Cleopatra received him into her royal 
palace. He was no sooner come thither, but he straight set all the 
city on rioting and banqueting again, and himself to liberality and 
gifts. He caused the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra to be en- 
rolled (according to the manner of the Romans) amongst the num- 
ber of young men : and gave Antyllus, his eldest son he had by 
Fulvia, the man's gown, the which was a plain gown without gard ^ 
or embroderie, of purple. For these things, there was kept great 
feasting, banqueting and dancing in Alexandria many days 
together. . . . 

Act V. Scene II. — " Cleopatra in the meantime was very care- 
ful* in gathering all sorts of poisons together, to destroy men. 
Now to make proof of those poisons which made men die with 

1 laden. S. uses loaden interchangeably with laden. 

2 stores. Cf. Temp. v. i. 3 and M. W. ii. 2. 179. 
^ edging. ■* industrious. 



200 Notes 

least pain, she tried it upon condemned men in prison. For when 
she saw the poisons that were sudden and vehement, and brought 
speedy death with grievous torments ; and in contrary manner, 
that such as were more mild and gentle had not that quick speed 
and force to make one die suddenly: she afterwards went about to 
prove 1 the stinging of snakes and adders, and made some to be 
applied unto men in her sight, some in one sort, some in another. 
So when she had daily made divers and sundry proofs, she found 
none of them all she had proved so fit as the biting of an aspick, 
the which causeth only a heaviness of the head, without swooning 
or complaining, and bringeth 'a great desire also to sleep, with a 
little sweat in the face ; and so by little and little taketh away the 
senses and vital powers, no living creature perceiving that the 
patients feel any pain. For they are so sorry when any body 
awaketh them and taketh them up, as those that be taken out of a 
sound sleep are very heavy and desirous to sleep. 

Act III. Scene XII. — "This notwithstanding, they sent am- 
bassadors unto Octavius Csesar in Asia, Cleopatra requesting the 
realm of Egypt for their children, and Antonius praying that he 
might be suffered to live at Athens like a private man, if Csesar 
would not let him remain in Egypt. And because they had no 
other men of estimation about them, for that some were fled, and 
those that remained they did not greatly trust, they were enforced 
to send Euphronius, the schoolmaster of their children. For Alexas 
Laodicean, who was brought into Antonius' house and favour by 
means of Timagenes, and afterwards was in greater credit with him 
than any other Grecian (for that he had ever been one of Cleo- 
patra's ministers to win Antonius, and to overthrow all his good 
determinations to use his wife Octavia well) : him Antonius had 
sent unto Herodes king of Jurie, hoping still to keep him his friend, 
that he should not revolt from him. But he remained there, and 
betrayed Antonius. For where he should have kept Herodes from 

1 test. Cf. Cymb. i. 5. 38, etc. 



Notes 20 1 

revolting from him, he persuaded him to turn to Csesar: and trust- 
ing king Herodes, he presumed to come in Caesar's presence. 
Hovvbeit Herodes did him no pleasure, for he was presently taken 
prisoner, and sent in chains to his own country, and there by 
Caesar's commandment put to death. Thus was Alexas, in Antonius' 
life-time, put to death for betraying of him. Furthermore, Caesar 
would not grant unto Antonius' requests : but for Cleopatra, he 
made her answer, that he would deny her nothing reasonable, so 
that she would either put Antonius to death, or drive him out of her 
country. 

Act III. Scene XIII. — " Therewithal he sent Thyreus one of his 
men unto her, a very wise and discreet man : who bringing letters 
of credit from a young lord unto a noble lady, and that besides 
greatly liked her beauty, might easily by his eloquence have per- 
suaded her. He was longer in talk with her than any man else 
was, and the queen herself also did him great honour : insomuch 
as he made Antonius jealous of him. Whereupon Antonius caused 
him to be taken and well-favouredly ^ whipped, and so sent him 
unto Caesar : and bad him tell him, that he made him angry with 
him, because he showed himself proud and disdainful towards him ; 
and now specially, when he was easy to be angered, by reason of 
his present misery. 'To be short, if this mislike thee,' said he, 
' thou hast Hipparchus, one of my enfranchised bondmen, with 
thee : hang him if thou wilt, or whip him at thy pleasure, that wt; 
may cry quittance.' From henceforth Cleopatra, to clear herself of 
the suspicion he had of her, made more of him then ever she did. 
For first of all, where ^ she did solemnize the day of her birth very 
meanly and sparingly, fit for her present misfortune, she now in 
contrary manner did keep it with such solemnity, that she exceeded 
all measure of sumptuousness and magnificence : so that the guests 
that were bidden to the feasts, and came poor, went away rich. 
Now things passing thus, Agrippa by divers letters sent one after 

1 soundly. 2 whereas. See Lear, i. 2. 89, etc. 



202 Notes 

another unto Caesar, prayed him to return to Rome, because the 
affairs there did of necessity require his person and presence. 
Thereupon he did defer the war till the next year following : but 
when winter was done, he returned again through Syria by the 
coast of Africa, to make wars against Antonius and his other cap- 
tains. When the city of Pelusium was taken, there ran a rumour 
in the city, that Seleucus (by Cleopatra's consent) had surrendered 
the same. But to clear herself that she did not, Cleopatra brought 
Seleucus' wife and children unto Antonius, to be revenged of them 
at his pleasure. Furthermore, Cleopatra had long before made 
many sumptuous tombs and monuments, as well for excellency of 
workmanship, as for height and greatness of building, joining hard 
to the temple of Isis. Thither she caused to be brought all the 
treasure and precious things she had of the ancient kings her prede- 
cessors : as gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, ebony, ivory, and cinna- 
mon, and besides all that, a marvellous number of torches, faggots, 
and flax. So Octavius Caesar, being afraid to lose such a treasure 
and mass of riches, and that this woman for spite would set it on 
fire and burn it every whit, he always sent some one or other unto 
her from him, to put her in good comfort, whilst he in the mean- 
time drew near the city with his army. So Caesar came and pitched 
his camp hard by the city, in the place where they run and manage 
their horses. 

Act IV. Scene I. — "Antonius made a sally upon him, and 
fought very valiantly, so that he drave Caesar's horsemen back, 
fighting with his men even into their camp. Then he came again 
to the palace, greatly boasting of this victory, and sweetly kissed 
Cleopatra, armed as he was when he came from the fight, recom- 
mending one of his men of arms unto her, that had valiantly fought 
in this skirmish. Cleopatra, to reward his manliness, gave him an 
armour and headpiece of clean i gold: howbeit the man-at-anns, 
when he had received this rich gift, stole away by night and went 



pure. 



Notes 203 

to Caesar. Antonius sent again to challenge Caesar to fight with 
him hand to hand. Caesar answered him, ' That he had many other 
ways to die than so.' 

Act IV. Scene 11. — " Then Antonius, seeing there was no way 
more honourable for him to die than fighting valiantly, he de- 
termined to set up his rest,i both by sea and land. So being at 
supper (as it is reported) he commanded his officers and household 
servants that waited on him at his board, that they should fill his 
cups full, and make as much of him as they could : ' For,' said he, 
' you know not whether you shall do so much for me to-morrow or 
not, or whether you shall serve another master : and it may be you 
shall see me no more, but a dead body.' This notwithstanding, 
perceiving that his friends and men fell a-weeping to hear him say 
so, to salve that he had spoken, he added this more unto it, ' that 
he would not lead them to battle, where he thought not rather 
safely to return with victory, than valiantly to die with honour.' 

Act IV. Scene III. — " Furthermore, the self-same night, within 
a little of midnight, when all the city was quiet, full of fear and 
sorrow, thinking what would be the issue and end of this war, it is 
said that suddenly they heard a marvellous sweet harmony of sun- 
dry sorts of instruments of music, with the cry of a multitude of 
people, as they had been dancing, and had sung as they use in 
Bacchus' feasts, with movings and turnings after the manner of the 
Satyrs : and it seemed, that this dance went through the city unto 
the gate that opened to the enemies, and that all the troupe, that 
made this noise they heard, went out of the city at that gate. Now 
such as in reason sought the depth of the interpretation of this 
wonder, thought that it was the god unto whom Antonius bare 
singular devotion to counterfeit and resemble him, that did forsake 
them. 

Act IV. Scene X. — "The next morning by break of day, he went 
to set those few footmen he had in order upon the hills adjoining 

1 make a stand. See R. and y. v. 3. no, etc. 



204 Notes 



1 



unto the city : and there he stood to behold his galleys which 
departed from the haven, and rowed against the galleys of the en- 
emies, and so stood still, looking what exploits his soldiers in them 
would do. But when by force of rowing they were come near 
unto them, they first saluted Caesar's men ; and then Caesar's men 
resaluted them also, and of two armies made but one : and then 
did altogether row toward the city. 

Act IV. Scenes XII and XIII. — " When Antonius saw that 
his men did forsake him, and yielded unto Caesar, and that his foot- 
men were broken and overthrown, he then fled into the city, crying 
out that Cleopatra had betrayed him unto them with whom he had 
made war for her sake. Then she, being afraid of his fury, fled 
into the tomb which he had caused to be made, and there she 
locked the doors unto her, and shut all the springs of the locks 
with great bolts, and in the mean time sent unto Antonius to tell 
him that she was dead. Antonius believing it, said unto himself: 
' What doest thou look for further, Antonius, sith ^ spiteful fortune 
hath taken from thee the only joy thou hadst, for whom thou yet 
reservedst thy life ? ' When he had said these words, he went into 
a chamber and unarmed himself, and being naked ^ said thus : ' O 
Cleopatra, it grieveth me not that I have lost thy company, for I 
will not be long from thee : but I am sorry that, having been so 
great a captain and emperor, I am indeed condemned to be judged 
of less courage and noble mind than a woman.' 

Act IV. Scene XIV. — "Now he had a man of his called Eros, 
whom he loved and trusted much, and whom he had long before 
caused to swear unto him, that he should kill him when he did 
command him : and then he willed him to keep his promise. His 
man, drawing his sword, lift ^ it up as though he had meant to have 
stricken his master : but turning his head at one side, he thrust his 
sword into himself, and fell down dead at his master's foot. Then 

1 since. Cf. Ham. ii. 2. 12, etc. 

2 without arms. Cf. 0th. v. 2. 258, etc. 

3 lifted. Cf. Genesis, vii. 17, xiv. 22, etc. 



Notes 205 



said Antonius : ' O noble Eros, I thank thee for this, and it is 
valiantly done of thee, to shew me what I should do to myself, 
which thou couldest not do for me.' Therewithal he took his 
sword, and thrust it into his belly, and so fell down upon a little 
bed. The wound he had killed him not presently, ^ for the blood 
stinted^ a little when he was laid: and when he came somewhat 
to himself again, he prayed them that were about him to despatch 
him. But they all fled out of the chamber, and left him crying 
out, tormenting himself: until at last there came a secretary unto 
him (called Diomedes) who was commanded to bring him into the 
tomb or monument where Cleopatra was. Wh«n he heard that she 
was alive, he very earnestly prayed his men to carry his body 
thither, and so he was carried in his men's arms into the entry of 
the monument. 

Act IV. Scene XV. — "Notwithstanding, Cleopatra would not 
open the gates but came to the high windows, and cast out certain 
chains and ropes, in the which Antonius was trussed ^ : and Cleo- 
patra her own self, with two women only, which she had suffered 
to come with her into these monuments, trised* Antonius up. 
They that were present to behold it said they never saw so pitiful, 
a sight. For they plucked up poor Antonius, all bloody as he was, 
and drawing on with pangs of death : who holding up his hands to 
Cleopatra, raised up himself as well as he could. It was a hard 
thing for these women to do, to lift him up : but Cleopatra, stoop- 
ing down with her head, putting to all her strength to her utter- 
most power, did lift him up with much ado, and never let go her 
hold, with the help of the women beneath that bad her be of good 
courage, and were as sorry to see her labour so as she herself. So 
when she had gotten him in after that sort, and laid him on a bed, 
she rent her garments upon him, clapping her breast, and scratch- 
ing her face and stomach. Then she dried up his blood that had 
bewrayed 5 his face, and called him her lord, her husband, and 

1 at once. 2 ceased, 3 wound. •* drew. 

5 berayed, disfigured. Cf. rayed in T. of S. iii. 2. 54 and iv. i. 3. 



2o6 Notes 

emperor, forgetting her own misery and calamity for the pity and 
compassion she took of him. Antonius made her cease her lament- 
ing, and called for wine, either because he was athirst, or else for 
that he thought thereby to hasten his death. When he had drunk, 
he earnestly prayed her, and persuaded her, that she would seek 
to save her life, if she could possible, without reproach and dis- 
honour : and that chiefly she should trust Proculeius above any ■: 
man else about Caesar. And as for himself, that she should not 
lament nor sorrow for the miserable change of his fortune at the 
end of his days : but rather that she should think him the more 
fortunate, for the former triumphs and honours he had received ; 
considering that while he lived, he was the noblest and greatest 
prince of the world ; and that now he was overcome, not cowardly, 
but valiantly, a Roman by another Roman. 

Act V. Scene I. — "As Antonius gave the last gasp, Proculeius 
came that was sent from Caesar. For after Antonius had thrust his 
sword in himself, as they carried him into the tombs and monu- 
ments of Cleopatra, one of his guard (called Dercetaeus) took his 
sword with which he had stricken himself, and hid it : then he 
secretly stole away, and brought Octavius Caesar the first news of 
his death, and shewed him his sword that was bloodied. Caesar 
hearing this news, straight withdrew himself into a secret place of 
his tent, and there burst out with tears, lamenting his hard and ^ 
miserable fortune, that had been his friend and brother-in-law, his ' 
equal in the empire, and companion with him in sundry great 
exploits and battles. Then he called for all his friends and shewed 
them the letters Antonius had written to him, and his answers also 
sent him again, during their quarrel and strife : and how fiercely 
and proudly the other answered him, to all just and reasonable 
matters he wrote unto him. 

Act V. Scene II. — " After this, he sent Proculeius, and com- 
manded him to do what he could possible to get Cleopatra alive, 
fearing lest otherwise all the treasure would be lost : and further- 
more, he thought that if he could take Cleopatra, and bring her 



Notes 207 



alive to Rome, she would marvellously beautify and set out his 
triumph. But Cleopatra would never put herself into Proculeius' 
hands, although they spake together. For Proculeius came to the 
gates that were thick and strong, and surely barred, but yet there 
were some cranewes ^ through the which her voice might be heard; 
and so they without understood, that Cleopatra demanded the king- 
dom of Egypt for her sons : and that Proculeius answered her that 
she should be of good cheer, and not be afraid to refer all unto 
Caesar. After he had viewed the place very well, he came and 
reported her answer unto Caesar : who immediately sent Callus to 
speak once again with her, and bad him purposely hold her in talk, 
whilst Proculeius did set up a ladder against that high window by 
the which Antonius was trised ^ up, and came down into the monu- 
ment with two of his men, hard by the gate where Cleopatra stood 
to hear what Callus said unto her. One of the women which was 
shut up in her monuments with her, saw Proculeius by chance as he 
came down, and skreeked ^ out : ' O poor Cleopatra, thou art taken.' 
Then when she saw Proculeius behind her as she came from the 
gate, she thought to have stabbed herself in with a short dagger she 
wore of purpose by her side. But Proculeius came suddenly upon 
her, and taking her by both the hands, said unto her : ' Cleopatra, 
first thou shalt do thyself great wrong, and secondly unto Caesar, to 
deprive him of the occasion and opportunity openly to shew his 
bounty and mercy, and to give his enemies cause to accuse the 
most courteous and noble prince that ever was, and to appeach ^ 
him, as though he were a cruel and merciless man, that were not to 
be trusted.' So even as he spake the word, he took her dagger 
from her, and shook her clothes for fear of any poison hidden about 
her. . . . 

" Shortly after, Casar came himself in person to see her, and to 
comfort her. Cleopatra, being laid upon a little low bed in poor 

1 crannies. 2 drawn. See p. 205, above. 3 shrieked. 

* impeach, accuse. See Rich. II. v. 2. 79, 102, etc. 



2o8 Notes 



1 



estate (when she saw Caesar come into her chamber), suddenly rose 
up, naked in her smock, and fell down at his feet marvellously dis- 
figured : both for that she had plucked her hair from her head, as 
also for that she had martyred all her face with her nails ; and 
besides, her voice was small and trembling, her eyes sunk into her 
head with continual blubbering ; ^ and moreover, they might see 
the most part of her stomach torn in sunder. To be short, her 
body was not much better than her mind : yet her good grace and 
comeliness and the force of her beauty was not altogether defaced. 
But notwithstanding this ugly and pitiful state of hers, yet she 
shewed herself within, by her outward looks and countenance. 
When C^sar had made her lie down again, and sat by her bedside, 
Cleopatra began to clear and excuse herself for that she had done, 
laying all to the fear she had of Antonius : Ceesar, in contrary man- 
ner, reproved her in every point. Then she suddenly altered her 
speech, and prayed him to pardon her, as though she were afraid 
to die, and desirous to live. At length, she gave him a brief and 
memorial of all the ready money and treasure she had. But by 
chance there stood one Seleucus by, one of her treasurers, who, to 
seem a good servant, came straight to Caesar to disprove Cleopatra, 
that she had not set in all, but kept many things back of purpose. 
Cleopatra was in such a rage with him, that she flew upon him, and 
took him by the hair of the head, and boxed him well-favouredly.^ 
Caesar fell a-laughing and parted the fray. 'Alas,' said she, 'O 
Caesar : is not this a great shame and reproach, that thou having 
vouchsafed to take the pains to come unto me, and done me this 
honour, poor wretch and caitiff^ creature, brought into this pitiful 
and miserable state : and that mine own servants should come now 
to accuse me ? though it may be I have reserved some jewels and 
trifles meet for women, but not for me (poor soul) to set out myself 

1 crying. Cf. R. aitd y. iii. 3. 87. 

2 beat him soundly. Cf. p. 201, above. 

3 wretched. Cf. 0th. iv. i. 109, etc. 



Notes 



209 



withal, but meaning to give some pretty presents and gifts unto 
Octavia and Livia, that they, making means and intercession for me 
to thee, thou mightest yet extend thy favour and mercy upon me,' 
Caesar was glad to hear her say so, persuading himself thereby that 
she had yet a desire to save her life. So he made her answer, that 
he did not only give her that to dispose of at her pleasure which she 
had kept back, but further promised to use her more honourably 
and bountifully than she would think for : and so he took his leave 
of her, supposing he had deceived her, but indeed he was deceived 
himself. There was a young gentleman, Cornelius Dolabella, that 
was one of Caesar's very great familiars, and besides did bear no 
ill will unto Cleopatra. He sent her word secretly (as she had 
requested him) that Csesar determined to take his journey through 
Syria, and that within three days he would send her away before 
with her children. When this was told Cleopatra, she requested 
Csesar that it would please him to suffer her to offer the last obla- 
tions of the dead unto the soul of Antonius. This being granted 
her, she was carried to the place where his tomb was, and there 
falling down on her knees, embracing the tomb with her women, 
the tears running down her cheeks, she began to speak in this sort : 
' O my dear lord Antonius, it is not long sithence ^ I buried thee 
here, being a free woman : and now I offer unto thee the funeral 
sprinklings and oblations, being a captive and prisoner ; and yet I 
am forbidden and kept from tearing and murdering this captive 
body of mine with blows, which they carefully guard and keep only 
to triumph of thee : look therefore henceforth for no other honours, 
offerings, nor sacrifices from me : for these are the last which Cleo- 
patra can give thee, sith now they carry her away. Whilst we 
lived together, nothing could sever our companies : but now, at our 
death, I fear me they will make us change our countries. For as 
thou, being a Roman, hast been buried in Egypt : even so, wretched 
creature, I, an Egyptian, shall be buried in Italy, which shall be all 

1 since. See Cor. iii. i. 47. 
ANTONY — 14 



2IO Notes 

the good that I have received by thy country. If therefore the 
gods where thou art now have any power and authority, sith our 
gods here have forsaken us, suffer not thy true friend and lover to 
be carried away alive, that in me they triumph of thee : but receive 
me with thee, and let me be buried in one self ^ tomb with thee. 
For though my griefs and miseries be infinite, yet none hath grieved 
me more, nor that I could less bear withal, than this small time 
which I have been driven to live alone without thee.' 

"Then having ended these doleful plaints, and crowned the 
tomb with garlands and sundry nosegays, and marvellous lovingly 
embraced the same, she commanded they should prepare her bath ; 
and when she had bathed and washed herself, she fell to her meat, 
and was sumptuously served. Now whilst she was at dinner, there 
came a countryman and brought her a basket. The soldiers that 
warded 2 at the gates, asked him straight what he had in his basket. 
He opened his basket, and took out the leaves that covered the figs, 
and shewed them that they were figs he brought. They all of 
them marvelled to see so goodly figs. The countryman laughed to 
hear them and bad them take some if they would. They believed 
he told them truly, and so bad him carry them in. After Cleo- 
patra had dined, she sent a certain table ^ written and sealed unto 
Caesar, and commanded them all to go out of the tombs where she 
was, but the two women ; then she shut the doors to her. Csesar, 
when he had received this table, and began to read her lamenta- 
tion and petition, requesting him that he would let her be buried 
with Antonius, found straight what she meant, and thought to have 
gone thither himself: howbeit, he sent one before in all haste that 
might be, to see what it was. Her death was very sudden : for 
those whom Caesar sent unto her ran thither in all haste possible, 
and found the soldiers standing at the gate, mistrusting nothing, 
nor understanding of her death. But when they had opened the 
doors, they found Cleopatra stark-dead, laid upon a bed of gold, 

1 same. Often used by S. as an adjective, 2 watched. 

3 tablet, letter. See Cymb. iii. 2. 39, etc. 



Notes 211 

attired and arrayed in her royal robes, and one of her two womep, 
which was called Iras, dead at her feet : and her other woma:^ 
(called Charmion) half dead, and trembling, trimming the diaden-i 
which Cleopatra wore upon her head. One of the soldiers seeing 
her, angrily said unto her : ' Is that well done, Charmion ? ' * Very 
well,' said she again, ' and meet for a princess descended from the 
race of so many noble kings : ' she said no more, but fell dow 
dead hard by the bed. Some report that this aspick was brought 
unto her in the basket with figs, and that she had commanded 
them to hide it under the fig-leaves, that when she should think to 
take out the figs, the aspick should bite her before she should see 
her : howbeit, that when she would have taken away the leaves for 
the figs, she perceived it, and said, * Art thou here, then ? ' And so, 
her arm being naked, she put it to the aspick to be bitten. Others 
say again, she kept it in a box, and that she did prick and thrust it 
with a spindle of gold, so that the aspick, being angered withal, 
leapt out with great fury, and bit her in the arm. Howbeit few 
can tell the troth.i For they report also, that she had hidden 
poison in a hollow razor which she carried in the hair of her head ; 
and yet was there no mark seen on her body, or any sign discerned 
that she was poisoned, neither also did they find this serpent in her 
tomb : but it was reported only, that there was seen certain fresh 
steps or tracks where it had gone, on the tomb-side toward the sea, 
and specially by the door-side. Some say also that they found two 
little pretty 2 bitings in her arm, scant to be discerned : the which 
it seemeth Caesar himself gave credit unto, because in his triumph 
he carried Cleopatra's image, with an aspick biting of her arm. 
And thus goeth the report of her death. Now Caesar, though he 
was marvellous sorry for the death of Cleopatra, yet he wondered at 
her noble mind and courage, and therefore commanded she should 
be nobly buried, and laid by Antonius : and willed also that her 
two women should have honourable burial." 

1 truth. See p. 193 above. 2 minute. Cf. v. 2. 243 below. 




212 Notes [Act 



ACT I 

Scene I.— 4. Plated. Cf. Rich. II. i. 3. 28: "Thus plated in 
habiliments of war." 

5. Office. Service ; as often. 

6. A ta-wny front. Tennyson refers to her in A Drea?n of Fair 
IVoineii, as a " queen, with swarthy cheeks," and some critics have 

supposed that he forgot she was of pure Greek blood, being the 
daughter of Ptolemy Auletes and a lady of Pontus ; but in a letter 
to me he called attention to " the polish'd argent of her breast" in 
another stanza of the same poem. He says that he described her, 
as S. does in i. 5, 19, as "with Phoebus' amorous pinches black," 
not as a half- African. 

8. Reneges. Denies, disclaims ; as in Lear, ii. 2. 84 : " Renege, 
affirm," etc. Coleridge would spell the word " reneagues," as it 
was pronounced. The quartos of Lear have " Reneag." 

10. To cool. Johnson, not seeing that the bellows and the fan 
were both meant to cool, would read "To kindle and to cool a 
gypsy's lust." Malone quotes Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 30 : — 

" An huge great payre of bellowes, which did styre 
Continually, and cooling breath inspyre." 

For the contemptuous use of gypsy, cf. R. and J. ii. 4. 44 : " Dido 
a dowdy, Cleopatra a gypsy." See also iv. 12. 28 below. 

12. Triple. Third; as one of the triumvirate. Cf. A. W. ii. 

I. Ill : — 

" Which, as the dearest issue of his practice, 

And of his old experience the only darling. 
He bade me store up, as a triple eye, 
Safer than mine own two, more dear." 

15. There's beggary, etc. Cf. R. and J. ii. 6. 32: "They are 
but beggars who can count their worth." Cf. 0\dd, Alet. xiii. : 
" Pauperis est numerare pecus " (it is the poor man who counts his 



Scene I] Notes 213 

herd), which Golding translates: "Tush! beggars of their cattel 
use the numbers for to know." 

17. Then must thou needs, etc. "Thou must set the boundary 
of my love at a greater distance than the present visible universe 
affords" (Johnson). 

18. Grates me ; the sujji. It grates upon my ear, it vexes me ; so 
be brief. The 2d folio has " Rate me, the summe ;" and Rowe 
reads " Rate me the sum." 

19. Them. S. makes news both singular and plural. Cf. iii. 7. 
51 below: "The news is true." 

23. Take in. Take, subdue ; as in Co7-. i. 2. 24 : " To take in 
many towns," etc. 

28. Process. Summons ; the legal sense of the word. Malone 
quotes Minsheu, Diet. 1617 : "The writings of our common lawyers 
sometimes call that the processe, by which a man is called into the 
court and no more." 

31. Homager. Vassal ; the only instance of the word in S. 

34. Rang'd. Well ordered. Cf. Cor. iii. i. 206: — 

" To bring the roof to the foundation, 
And bury all, which yet distinctly ranges, 
In heaps and piles of ruin." 

35. Our dungy earth. Cf. W. T.\\. i. 157: " the whole dungy 
earth." See on v. 2. 7 below. 

39. To weet. To wit, to know. Elsewhere in the early eds. the 
speUing is " wit ; " as in M. of V. ii. 9. 90, A. Y. Z. v. i. 57, etc. 

43. But stirred by Cleopatra. But influenced or inspired by 
Cleopatra. 

44. Love. The goddess of love, or Venus. Cf. C. of E. iii. 2. 
52: "Let Love, being light, be drowned if she sink." 

45. Confound. Consume, spend ; as in i. 4. 28 below. Cf. Cor. 
i. 6. 17 : " How couldst thou in a mile confound an hour? " 

53. We '// wander through the streets. Cf. extract from North, 
p. 186 above. 



214 Notes [Act I 

60. That he approves, etc. " That he proves the common liar, 
fame, in his case to be a true reporter " (Malone). Cf. AI. of V. 
iii. 2. 79 : " approve it with a text," etc. 

61. Hope of. Cf. M. for M. iii. i. i: "So then you hope of 
pardon from Lord Angelo?" etc. 

Scene II. — The stage-direction in the folio is " Enter Enobar- 
bus, Lamprius, a Southsayer, Rannius, Lticillius, Charmian, Iras, 
Mardian the Eunuch, and Alex as ; " but Lamprius, Rannius, and 
Lucillius take no part in the dialogue. Perhaps, as Steevens sug- 
gests, they may have been in it as it was first written by S., and 
their names were accidentally left here after their speeches had 
been struck out. It is not the only instance of the kind in S. 

I. Lamprias, or La^npryas, is mentioned by Plutarch. See 
p. 185 above. 

4. Charge. The folios have "change ; " corrected by Theobald. 
Some retain " change," making it = vary, give a different appear- 
ance to. 

23. Heat my liver. Cf M. of F. i. i. 81 : "And let my liver 
rather heat with wine," etc. For the liver as the seat of love, cf. 
Much Ado, iv. I. 233 : " If ever love had interest in his liver," etc. 

25. Good now. A not uncommon vocative construction. Cf. 
C. of E. iv. 4. 22, W. T. V. I. 19, etc. See also i. 3. 78 below. 

27. Herod. Cf. iii. 3. 3, iii. 6. 73, and iv. 6. 14 below. Herod 
was a familiar character in the mysteries of the early stage, on 
which he was represented as "a fierce, haughty, blustering tyrant." 
Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 16: "it out-herods Herod, etc." Charmian's wish 
is therefore " for a son who may arrive at such power and dominion 
that the proudest and fiercest monarchs of the earth may be brought 
under his yoke." 

31. I love long life better than figs. A proverbial expression. 

34. Belike. It is likely, I suppose. Johnson explains the speech 
thus : " If I have already had the best of my fortune, then I sup- 
pose I shall never name children, that is, I am never to be mar- 



Scene II] Notes 215 

ried. However, tell me the truth, tell me, ' how many boys and 
wenches? ' " Cf. T. G. of V. iii. i. 321. 

36. Fertile. The folios have " foretell " or " foretel ;" corrected 
by Theobald (the conjecture of Warburton). 

37. I forgive thee for a witch. Alluding to the proverb, " You '11 
never be burnt for a witch." Herford explains it " as being a 
wizard, and hence privileged to utter home-truths." 

49. An oily palm, etc. Malone compares 0th. iii. 4. 36: — 

"This hand is moist, my lady. . . . 
This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart." 

51. Worky-day. Ordinary, common. Cf. ^. K Z. i. 3. I2: "this 
working-day world." 

60. Alexas, — co7ne^ etc. In the folio this is printed as if it were 
the speech of Alexas : *' Alexas. Come, his Fortune," etc. Theo- 
bald was the first to suggest the correction, which is required 
by the sense, and is, moreover, confirmed (though I am not aware 
that this has been noted) by the fact that elsewhere the prefix to 
the speeches of Alexas is the abbreviation " Alex.^'' In the folio 
the proper names in the text are generally in italics, and this one 
was somehow mistaken for the prefix to a speech. 

65. Hear me this prayer. Cf. v. I. 51 below: "We '11 hear him 
what he says," etc. 

88. Jointing. Joining ; used by S. only here and in Cymb. v. 
4. 142 and V. 5. 440. 

90. Drave. For the form, cf. T. and C. iii. 3. 190, R. and J. i. 
I. 127, etc. Drove is the more comm.on form of the past tense 
in S. For the participle he has di'iven, except in iv. 7. 5 below 
{droven) and 2 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 84 {drove, which Schmidt thinks 
may be the past tense). For drave, oi. Joshua, xvi. lo, xxiv. 12, etc. 

95. As. As if. Cf. iv. I. I below. 

97. Extended. Seized upon; a legal use of the word. Cf. 
extent — %q.\zvlXQ. in A. Y.L. iii, i. 17. Steevens quotes Massinger, 
New Way to Pay Old Debts : " This manor is extended to my use." 



2 1 6 Notes [Act 

Asia is here a trisyllable ; and Euphrates (the only instance of the 
word in S.) is accented on the first syllable, as by other writers 
of the time. Cf. Drayton, Polyolbion, 21: "That gliding go in 
state, like swelling Euphrates." 

loi. Home. Without reserve or " mincing." Cf. 6>//z. ii. i. 166: 
" He speaks home," etc. 

106. Minds. The folios have " windes " or " winds," which some 
retain as " a figurative image for the brisk, wholesomely search- 
ing winds that make the earth duly fruitful instead of letting it 
lie stagnant and overgrown with idle weeds ; as well as for the 
wholesomely rough breath of public censure and private candour 
which prevent the growth of moral weeds, and allow good fruits to 
spring up." 

107. Earing. Tilling, ploughing. Cf. A. W. i. 3. 47 : " He 
that ears my land spares my team," etc. See also i. 2. 105 below ; 
and cf. Deuteronomy, xxi. 4, Isaiah, xxx. 24, etc. Warburton para- 
phrases the passage thus : "While the active principle within us 
lies immerged in sloth and luxury, we bring forth vices instead of 
virtues, weeds instead of flowers and fruits ; but the laying before 
us our ill condition plainly and honestly, is, as it were, the first 
culture of the mind, which gives hope of a future harvest." 

III. Stays upon your will. Cf. Macb. i. 3. 148: "we stay 
upon your leisure;" Ham. iii. 2. 112: "they stay upon your 
patience," etc. 

119. Contempt doth. The ist folio has " contempts doth," the 
2d "contempts do" ; but it is more likely that contempt was mis- 
printed contempts than that do was made doth. Possibly S. wrote 
"contempts doth." Cf. R. and J., prol. 8. Abbott (^Grammar, 
334) calls it " the 3d person plural in -th.^^ Hath often occurs 
with a plural subject. 

121. By revolution lowering. Decreasing with the lapse of 
time. Johnson sees an allusion to " the sun's diurnal course ; " 
but it seems to be rather to the turning of a wheel, probably sug- 
gested by the familiar "wheel of Fortune." Cf. iv. 15. 44 below. 



1 



Scene II] Notes 217 

Steevens paraphrases it thus : " The pleasure of to-day, by revolu- 
tion of events and change of circumstances, often loses all its 
value to us, and becomes to-morrow a pain." 

123. Could. Could willingly, would fain. 

138. Upon fa?' poor e J' moment. For less reason, or for a matter 
of less moment. 

144. Call her winds and waters sighs and tears, "Dignify her 
expenditure of air and water by the name of sighs and tears." 
Malone was at first inclined to read " call her sighs and tears winds 
and waters," but finally decided that the text is as S. wrote it. Of 
course, Enobarbus means just what he says, and there is a humour 
in it which Malone appears to have missed. 

158. When it pleaseth, &tc. "When the deities are pleased to 
take a man's wife from him, this act of theirs makes them appear 
to man like the tailors of the earth : affording this comfortable 
reflection, that the deities have made other women to supply the 
place of his former wife ; as the tailor, when one robe is worn out, 
supplies him with another" (Malone). 

165. The tears live in an onion, etc, Cf. onion-eyed \x\ iv. 2. 35 
below ; also T. of S. ind. i. 126 and A. W. v. 3. 321. 

171. Your abode. Your abiding or remaining here. Cf. Cymb. 

i. 6. 53: — 

" Beseech you, sir, desire 

My man's abode where I did leave him ; " 

that is, ask him to stay there. 

174. Expedience. Expedition ; as in I Hen. IV. i. i. 33 : "In 
forwarding this dear expedience." Elsewhere it is = haste ; as in 
Rich. II.\\. I. 287 and Hen. V. iv. 3. 70. 

175. Part. Depart; as often. Cf. T.N. v. i. 394 : "We will 
not part from hence," etc. 

176. More urgent touches. " Things that touch me more sensi- 
bly, more pressing motives " (Johnson). Cf. Cymb. i. i. 135 : — 

" a touch more rare 
Subdues all pangs, all fears." 



2 1 8 Notes [Act I 

178. Many our contriving friends. Many friends who are 
busy in our interests. For the order, cf. T. of A. iii. 6. 11 : 
" many my near occasions." 

179. Petition us at home. Are calling for our presence at home. 

180. Dare. Defiance; again used as a noun (= daring, bold- 
ness) in I Hen. IV. iv. i. 78: "A larger dare to our great enter- 
prise." 

183. To throw, etc. That is, to transfer his name and honours 
to his son. 

187. Quality. Disposition, character. Cf. i. i. 54 above. 

188. The sides 6' the world. The expression occurs again in 
Cymb. iii. I. 51. Danger is not elsewhere used by S. as a verb. 

189. The courser'' s hair. Alluding to the old notion, still current 
in some places among children and the illiterate, that a horse-hair 
put into water will turn into a worm or snake. 

191. Such whose. For the relative after such, cf. i. 4. 28 below. 

Scene III. — i. I did not see him sitice. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 7. 58: 
" I was not angry since I came to France," etc. 

3. / did not send you. " You must go as if you came without 
my order or knowledge " (Johnson). Cf. T. and C. iv. 2. 72: — 

" I will go meet them ; and, my lord ^neas, 
We met by chance, you did not find me here." 

8. / do not ? The elhpsis of the relative is common. 

10. The way to lose hi?fz. That is, it is the way. 

11. I wish. Apparently used like " I pray," etc. 

16. The sides of nattire, etc. Steevens quotes T. N. ii. 4. 96 : — 

" There is no woman's sides 
Can bide the beating of so strong a passion." 

28. Though you in swearing, etc. Cf. T. of A. iv. 3. 137 : — 

" Although, I know, you 'II swear, terribly swear 
Into strong shudders and to heavenly agues 
The immortal gods that hear you." 



I 



Scene III] Notes 219 

32. Colour. Pretext; as in Hen. VIII. i. i. 178: — 

" Under pretence to see the queen his aunt — 
For 't was indeed his colour," etc. 

35. Eternity was in our lips, etc. A taunting repetition of what 
Antony had formerly said of her. 

36. In our brows' betit. Steevens quotes K. John, iv. 2. 90 : 
" Why do you bend such solemn brows on me? " 

37. Was a race of heaven. Was of heavenly origin. Some 
make it = " had a smack or flavour of heaven." 

44. In use. In trust ; a legal term. Cf. M. of V. iv. I. 383 : — 

" I am content, so he will let me have 
The other half in use, to render it, 
Upon his death, unto the gentleman . 
That lately stole his daughter." 

46. Port. Some make this = gate, as in iv. 4. 23 belovi' ; but, 
as Pompey was approaching by sea, the reference is more probably 
to Ostia, the harbour of Rome. If it had the other meaning, we 
should expect the plural, as in Cor. v. 6. 6. 

48. Breed. Probably an instance of " confusion of proximity." 

49. Coiidemn''d. Accented on the first syllable because coming 
before the noun. 

51. Thrived. The only instance of the participle in S. We 
find the past tense thrived in Per. v. 2. 9. 

53. Would purge. Would be cured. Cf. the transitive use in 
W. T. iv. 4. 790, Rich. II. i. i. 153, Macb. v. 3. 52, etc. 

54. Particular. Private concern. For the use of more, cf. 
K.John, ii. i. 34: "a more requital," etc. 

55. Safe. Render safe ; used as a verb by S. only here and in 
iv. 6. 26 below. 

58. It does from childishness. That is, from being so childish as 
to believe you. She does not believe at first that Fulvia is really 
dead. Malone explains it : "I am not so childish as to have 
apprehensions from a rival that is no more ; " which seems a very 



220 Notes [Act I 

childish interpretation. The reply of Antony clearly favours the 
other. 

6i. Garboils. Disturbances, turmoils, "tantrums." The only 
other instance of the word in S. is ii. 2. 67 below. Steevens 
quotes Stanyhurst, ^neid, 1 582: "Now manhood and garboils 
I chaunt and martial horror." 

At the last, best. This has been variously interpreted, but prob- 
ably refers to the last part of the letter, or that giving the good 
news of Fulvia's death. This explanation is confirmed by Cleo- 
patra's reply. Steevens calls it a " conjugal tribute to the memory 
of Fulvia," and compares Malcolm's eulogium on the thane of 
Cawdor, Macb. i. 4. 7 : — 

" nothing in his life 
Became him like the leaving of it." 

Boswell says : " Surely it means her death was the best thing I 
have known of her, as it checked hex garboils.''^ 

63. Vials. " Alluding to the lachrymatory vials, or bottles of 
tears, which the Romans sometimes put into the urn of a friend " 
(Johnson). Cf. Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 5. 4: "Sacred vials fill'd 
with tears." 

68. The fii'c, etc. That is, the sun. 

71. Affecfst. Pleasest, likest. The ist folio has "affects," a 
not uncommon contraction of such forms. 

73. So Antony loves. Some editors make this = thus (that is, 
in this uncertain, fickle way) Antony loves ; but I think that so 
= if : I am quickly ill, — and as quickly well again if Antony 
only loves me. For so, cf. ii. 5. 94 below. The reply of Antony 
is consistent with either interpretation. 

78. Good now. See on i. 2. 25 above. For Egypt = queen of 
Egypt, cf. 41 above, and i, 5. 34, iii. il. 51, 56, etc., below. 

81. Meetly. Well; the only instance of the word in S. 

84. Herculean. Antony triced his descent from Anton, a son 
of Hercules. Cf. iv. 12. 44 below. 



Scene III] Notes 221 

85. The carriage of his chafe. His chafed or angry bearing. 
The noun chafe is used by S. only here ; but cf. the verb in Cor. 
iii. 3. 27, Hen. VIII. i. i. 123, iii. 2. 206, etc. For carriage, cf. 
C. of E. iii. 2. 14: "Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint," etc. 

90. O, my oblivion is a very Antony, etc., " O, this oblivious 
memory of mine is as false and treacherous as Antony is, and I 
forget every thing" (Steevens). For oblivion = forgetfulness in 
this subjective sense, cf. Ham. iv. 4. 40 : " Bestial obhvion," etc. 
For forgotten, cf. our use of mistaken. Here there is probably a 
play upon the double sense of the word. 

91. But that your royalty, etc. But that your sovereignty can 
make frivolousness subservient to your purpose, I should take you 
for frivolousness itself. Warburton explained it : " But that your 
charms hold me, who am the greatest fool on earth, in chains, I 
should have adjudged you to be the greatest ; " and Steevens thus : 
" but that your queenship chooses idleness for the subject of your 
conversation, I should take you for idleness itself;" but he sug- 
gested that it might mean, " But that I know you to be a queen, 
and that your royalty holds idleness in subjection to you, exalting 
you far above its influence, I should suppose you to be the very 
genius of idleness itself." Warburton considered that Cleopatra's 
reply favoured his interpretation (taking idleness to refer to An- 
tony, as he had used it) ; but it may be better explained by mine. 
Clarke paraphrases the reply thus : " Ah ! it is hard work to sus- 
tain such trifling so near the heart (or with so much of earnest 
feeling beneath it) as Cleopatra has carried on this trifling of 
hers." 

96. My becomings kill me, etc. The meaning seems to be that 
she reckons her very graces as her deadly enemies if they do not 
gain his favour. Steevens thinks there may be an allusion to what 
Antony has said of her in i. i. 49 above. S. uses becoming as a 
noun only here and in Sonn. 150. 5. 

100. Laurel. The 2d folio has " Lawrell'd," which many edi- 
tors prefer. 



I 



222 Notes [Act I 

103. That thou, residing here, etc. Steevens remarks that the 
conceit may have been suggested by Sidney's Arcadia : — 

" She went, they staid ; or, rightly for to say, 
She staid with them, they went in thought with her." 

Scene IV. — 3. Co?npeHtor. Associate ; as in ii. 7. 74 and v. i. 
42 below. 

6. Ptolemy. Used, as in 17 below, because the queen belonged 
to the line of Ptolemies. Cf. iii. 12. 18 below. 

9. The abstract of all faults. "A microcosm of sinfulness" 
(Schmidt). 

II. Enow. The old plural of enough. Cf. M. of V. iii. 5. 24, 
iv. I. 29, Hen. V. iv. i. 240, iv. 2. 28, etc. 

12,13. His faults, ^tz. The comparison is elliptically expressed, 
but intelligible enough. Cf. Cymb. v. 5. 120 : — 

"One sand another 
Not more resembles that sweet rosy lad 
Who died, and was Fidele." 

14. Purchased. Acquired. Cf. A. Y. L. iii. 2. 360: "Your 
accent is something finer than you could purchase in so removed a 
dwelling," etc. 

20. Peel the streets. For the transitive use, cf. Ham. i. 4. 9 : 
" Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels." 

22. As. Nearly =y^r or though; as in ii. 2. 53 below. Com- 
posure =■■ composition ; as in T. and C. ii. 3. 25 1 : " thou art of 
sweet composure." In the only other instance of the word in S. 
( T. and C. ii. 3. 109, where the folios have " counsel ") it is = 
combination. 

24. Soils. Stains, blemishes. S. does not use the plural any- 
where else. 

When zae do bear, etc. " When his trifling levity throws so much 
burden on us" (Johnson). S. is fond of playing on the various 
senses of light. 



I 



Scene ivj Notes 223 

25. IfhefilVd, etc. " If Antony followed his debaucheries at a 
time of leisure, I should leave him to be punished by their natural 
consequences, by surfeiis and dry bones " (Johnson) . Call on him 
— call him to account ; or, perhaps, "visit him" (Schmidt). 

28. Confound. See on i. i, 45 above; and iox stick . . . tAal, 
on i. 2. 191. 

31. Being mature in knowledge. That is, being old enough to 
know better. Hanmer reads "who, immature," etc.; but the 
expei'ience and judgment that follow imply that the boys are 
mature enough to k7iow what is right, though they may not have 
the manly strength to resist temptation. 

33. Here 's more Jtews. See on i. i. 21 ^above. We often, how- 
ever, find the singular verb before a plural subject. 

39. Discontents. Malcontents ; as in i Hen. IV. v. i. 76 : *' fickle 
changelings and poor discontents." 

40. Give. Represent ; as in Cor. i. 9. 55 : "To us that give you 
truly." 

43. Ebfd. That has ebbed, or declined. Cf. Te?np. ii. i. 226: 
" Ebbing men ; " and Lear, v. 3. 19 : — 

" great ones 
That ebb and flow by the moon." 

For the form, ci. forgotten in i. 3. 91 above. 

44. Comes dear'd. Becomes endeared. The folios all have 
"fear'd;" corrected by Theobald (the conjecture of Warburton). 

45. Flag. The yellow iris, commonly called the "water flag" 
in the time of S. 

46. Lackeying. The folios have " lacking ; " corrected by The6- 
bald. 

49. Ear. Plough. See on i. 2. 107 above. 

52. Lack blood to think on V. Turn pale at the thought of it. 
Flush youth — youth in its perfection, or ripening to manhood. 

56. Wassails. Carousals. Cf. Z. L. L. v. 2. 318: "at wakes 
and wassails," etc. 



224 Notes [Act I 

57. Modena. iVccented here (the only instance of the word in 
S.) on the second syllable. Cf. North, p. 182 above. 

61. Suffer. That is, suffer with. The ellipsis of the preposition 
in relative sentences is common. 

62. Stale. Urine. Gilded = covered with yellow scum. 

71. Latik'd. Became lank or thin ; the only instance of the verb 
in S. ^ T is pity of /ii??t occurs again in Ot/i. ii. 3. 130, Cf. 
T. N. ii. 5. 14, M. N. D. iii. i. 44, etc. 

79. Front. Face, encounter. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iv. i. 25 : " What 
well-appointed leader fronts us here? " See also ii. 2. 61 below. 

84. For my bond. That is, to be my bounden duty. 

Scene V. — 4. Mandragora. Mandrake ; a soporific. Cf. 0th. 

iii. 3. 330: — 

" Not poppy, nor mandragora, 
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, 
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep 
Which thou ow'dst yesterday ; " 

and Webster, Duchess of Malfy, iv. 2 : — 

" Come, violent death, 
Serve for mandragora, and make me sleep ; " 

13. Wofst. Knowest ; used by S. only in the present tense and 
the participle wotting. For the latter, see W. T. iii. 2. 77. 

14. Demi-Atlas. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. v. I. 36: "Thou art no Atlas 
for so great a weight." 

15. Bu7gonet. A kind of helmet. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. v. I. 204 : 
"This day I '11 wear aloft my burgonet." 

23. In. Into ; as often. 

24. Anchor his aspect. Cf. Sonn. 137. 6 : — 

" If eyes corrupt by over-partial looks 
Be anchor'd in the bay where all men ride," etc. 

Aspect is accented on the last syllable, as regularly in S. 



Scene V] Notes 225 

27. That great medicuie. Alluding to the "grand elixir" of the 
alchemists. Cf. A. W. v. 3. 102 : — 

" Plutus himself, 
That knows the tinct and multiplying medicine, 
Hath not in nature's mystery more science 
Than I have in this ring." 

34. Egypt. See on i. 3. 78 above. 

39. Arm-gaunt. A puzzle to the critics, who have suggested 
many emendations : as " arm-girt," " termagant," " war-gaunt," 
" arrogant," " rampaunt " or " ramping," etc. Various attempts 
have been made to explain arm-gmmt, but I have no doubt that 
it is a misprint. The poet's word was not improbably " rampaunt," 
though the article an favours "arrogant." 

41. DumFd. The folios have " dumbe " or " dumb ; " corrected 
by Theobald. We find " dumbs " in Per. v. prol. 5 : " Deep clerks 
she dumbs." For the adverbial beastly, cf. T. of S. iv. 2. 34, 
Cymb. v. 3. 27, etc. 

50. Alingle. S. uses the noun only here and in iv. 8. 37 below. 

53. Several. Separate ; as often. Cf. 68 and iii. 13. 5 below. 

54. So thick. In such quick succession. Cf. Macb. i. 3. 97: — 

"As thick as tale 
Came post with post." 

62. Paragon. The verb is used in different though related 
senses in Hen. VI IT. ii. 4. 230 and 0th. ii. i. 62. 

65. Cold in blood, etc. The pointing is that of Warburton, and 
is generally adopted ; the folio joins the words to what precedes. 

69. Unpeople Egypt. By sending out messengers. 



ACT II 



Scene I. — i. Shall. Will; as often. 

3. They not deny. For the transposition of not, cf. ii. 2. 35 
below. 

ANTONY — 15 



2 26 Notes [Act II 

4. Whiles. Used by S. interchangeably with while. " The 
meaning is, while we are praying, the thing for which we pray is 
losing its value " (Johnson). 

10. Aly powers are crescent. For the following it, cf. T. of A. 
iii. 6. loi : — 

" Who, stuck and spangled with your flatteries, 
Washes it off," etc. 

21. Salt. Wanton, lustful. Cf. 0th. ii. I. 244, iii. 3. 404, etc. 
Wan^d = faded, declined. Cf. 3 //en. V/. iv. 7.4: — 

" I shall interchange 
My waned state for Henry's regal crown." 

The folio has "wand," and some editors read " wann'd." Cf. //am. 
ii. 2. 580 : "all his visage wann'd." 

24. Epicurean. Accented on the antepenult, as in other writers 
of the time. S. uses the word only here and (in prose) in M. W. 
ii. 2. 300. 

25. Cloy less. Uncloying. Cf. helpless = unhelping {V. and A. 
604, Rich ///. i. 2. 13, etc.), sightless = unseen (Macb. i. 7. 23), etc. 

26. Prorogue. " Linger out, keep in a languishing state " 
(Schmidt). 

27. Lethe' d. Oblivious ; used by S. only here. For the noun 
Lethe, cf. ii. 7. 1 12 below. 

31. A space for. Time long enough for. Space is often used of 
time ; as in Temp. i. 2. 279 : " within which space she died;" A. W. 
ii. 3. 188: "the coming space," etc. 

37. Egypfs widow. Julius C?esar had married her to young 
Ptolemy, who was afterwards drowned. 

38. //ope. Expect, suppose ; as in //en. V. iii. 7. 77 : " Some of 
them will fall to-morrow, I hope." Boswell remarks that it was 
considered a blundering use of the word in the time of Elizabeth, 
as appears from Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie : " Such manner 
of uncouth speech did the Tanner of Tamworth use to king Edward 
the fourth, which Tanner having a great while mistaken him, and 



Scene II] Notes 227 

used very broad talke with him, at length perceiving by his traine 
that it was the king, said thus with a certaine rude repentence : I 
hope I shall be hanged to-morrow ! For [I feare me] I shall be 
hanged, whereat the king laughed agood, not only to see the Tan- 
ners vaine feare, but also to heare his ill-shapen terme." 

45. Pregnant. Very probable. Cf. Cymb. iv. 2, 325: " O, 't is 
pregnant, pregnant ! " Square = quarrel. Cf. M. N>D. ii. i. 30: 
" And now they never meet . . . But they do square," etc. So 
squarer = quarreller in Much Ado, i. I. 82. 

49. Yet not know. Do not yet know. For the transposition, 
cf. iv. 12. I below. 

50. Stands our lives upon. Behooves us as we value our lives. 
Cf. Rich. II. ii. 3. 138: "It stands your grace upon to do him 
right," etc. 

Scene II. — 8. I would not shave V. That is, I would not show 
him even that degree of respect. 

9. Stomaching. Giving way to anger or resentment. S. uses 
the verb only here and in iii. 4. 12 below. For the noun ( = wrath), 
see Lear, v. 3. 74, etc. 

15. Compose. Agree, make terms. Cf. composition in ii. 6. 58 
below. 

16. I do not know, etc. This is part of the conversation be- 
tween Ccesar and Maecenas as they come in. 

21. Loud. In high words. Cf. Otk. ii. i. 150: "Had tongue at 
will, and yet was never loud," etc. 

25. Nor curstness grow to the matter. " Let not ill-humour be 
added to the real subject of our difference" (Johnson). S. uses 
curstness only here, but cf. curst in Lear, ii. i. 67: "with curst 
speech," etc. 

35. Not concerted. See on ii. 1.3 above. 

40. How intend you, practised? "What do you mean by prac- 
tised? The word was often = plot; as in Lear, iii. 2. 57: "prac- 
tis'd on man's life," etc. 



228 Notes [Act II 

44. Was theme for you. Had you for its theme, was on your 
account. 

46. Did urge me in his act. Made use of my name as a pretence 
for the war. 

47. Reports. "Reporters" (Pope's reading). S. uses reporter 
only in 190 below. 

50. Stomach. Disposition, inclination. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 3. 35 : 
" he which hath no stomach to this fight," etc. 

51. Having alike your cause? I being engaged in the same 
cause with you (Malone). 

52. Patch a quarrel. Make a quarrel, as it were, out of mere 
shreds and pieces. In the next line the not is not in the folios, but 
was inserted by Rowe. A few editors follow the folio, but their 
attempts to explain the passage are forced and unsatisfactory. For 
as, see on i. 4. 22 above. 

60. With graceful eyes attend. Look graciously or approvingly 
upon. 

61. Fronted. Opposed. Cf. i. 4. 79 above. 

62. / would you had, etc. " I wish you were married to such 
another spirited woman; and then you would find that, though you 
can govern the third part of the world, the management of such a 
woman is not an easy matter" (Malone). Spirit is a monosyl- 
lable, as often. 

64. Pace. Teach paces to, break in. Cf. Hen. VIII. v. 3. 22 : — . 

" those that tame wild horses 
Pace 'em not in their hands to make 'em gentle, 
But stop their mouths with stubborn bits, and spur 'em, 
Till they obey the manage." 

67. Garboils. See on i. 3. 61 above. 

70. Did you too much disquiet. S. has do with many nouns with 
which we should not now use it ; as " do danger " (y. C. ii. i. 17), 
"do our country loss" (^Hen. V. iv. 3. 21), "do him disparage- 
ment" (7?. and J. i. 5. 72), "do him shame" (A*, of L. 597, Sonn.. 



Scene II] NoteS llg 

36. 10), "do him ease" {T. of S. v. 2. 179, Ham. i. i. 131), etc. 
For that— but for all that, nevertheless. 

74. Missive. Messenger. Cf. Macb. i. 5. 7 : " "Whiles I stood rapt 
in the wonder of it, came missives from the king, who all-hailed 
me ' Thane of Cawdor.' " S. uses the word only twice. 

78. I'old Jiini of myself. Told him the condition I was in, when 
he had his last audience. 

85. The honour is sacred, etc. "The theme of honour which 
he now speaks of, namely, the religion of an oath, for which he 
supposes nie not to have a due regard, is sacred; let him there- 
fore urge his charge, that I may vindicate myself" (Malone). 

94. Without it. That is, without my honesty. 

98. Noble. Cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 141 : " she 's noble born ; " and 
Cor. iii. 2. 6 : " You do the nobler." 

99. Enforce. Urge, lay stress upon ; as in Cor. ii. 3. 227 : 
" enforce his pride," etc. 

100. Griefs. Grievances. Cf. J. C. i. 3. 118 : "redress of all 
these griefs ; " Id. iv. 2. 42 : " Speak your griefs softly," etc. 

102. Atone. Reconcile. Cf. Rich. II. i. i. 202 : " Since we 
cannot atone you," etc. 

III. Your considerate stone. That is, / am as silent as a stone. 
The meaning seems obvious enough, but changes have been sug- 
gested. Steevens cites many passages to show that " still as a 
stone" was a common simile. Cf. T. A. iii. i. 46: "A stone 
is silent and offendeth not." Considerate = discreet, circum- 
spect. 

116. What hoop, etc. Cf. 2 Heji. IV. iv. 4. 43 : "A hoop of 
gold to bind thy brothers in." 

123. Were well deservhi of rashness. Would be well deserved 
for your rashness. 

129. To his wife. Cf. /. C. ii. I. 293, Harji. i. 2. 14, etc. See 
also Matthew, iii. 9, Luke, iii. 8, etc. 

134. Import. Carry with them. 

145. Power unto. Elsewhere we have of (^Ham. ii. 2. 27, etc.), 



230 Notes [Act 11 

upon (as in i. 3. 23 above), in {^Much Ado, iv. i. 75, etc.), and 
over (^Rich. III. i. 2. 47. etc.). 

157. / must thank him only, etc. I must just thank him, lest I 
be thought forgetful of his courtesies ; and then I will defy him. 

159. At heel of that. Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 341 : "But is there no 
sequel at the heels of this mother's admiration?" See also T. of 
A. i. I. 27, etc. 

162. The Mount Misenum. The promontory in the Bay of 
Naples, now known as the Punta di Miseno. 

165. So is the fame. Such is the report. 

168. Most. Utmost, greatest ; as in Ham. i. 5. 180 : "at your 
most need," etc. 

169. To my sister's view. To see my sister; the "objective 
genitive." 

178. Digested. The ist folio has "disgested"; an old form of 
the word. So in Cor. i. I. 154 andy. C i. 3. 205 we find " disgest." 

181. Eight wild boars roasted, etc. See extract from North, 
p. 185 above. 

187. Square to her. Just to her. Cf. T. of A. v. 4. 36 : — 

"All have not offended; 
For those that were, it is not square to take 
Of those that are, revenges." 

189. Upon the river of Cydnus. Mason criticised this as "an 
instance of negligence and inattention in S.," since, according to 
216 below, Antony, being then in the market-place, did not see 
her on the river ; which reminds one of Yellowplush's surprise at 
finding that Boulogne-sur-Mer was on the shore and not " on the 
sea." Upo7i the river means " on the shores of the river," including 
the " city." 

193. The barge she sat in, etc, Cf. North, p. 184 above. 

201. Cloth-ofgold of tissue. Explained by some as = cloth-of- 
gold in tissue or texture ; but Staunton is probably right in making 
it — " cloth-of-gold on a ground of tissue." He says that the 




Scene II] Notes 23 1 

expression " repeatedly occurs in early English books." He might 
have added that S. takes it from North. See p. 184 above. 

202. That Venus. Warburton says that this means " the Venus 
of Protogenes, mentioned by Pliny." 

207. What they undid did. That is, seemed to produce the glow 
they were intended to allay. Johnson thought it would be better 
to read " what they did, undid." 

209. Tended her V the eyes. Apparently = waited upon her 
looks. Clarke compares M. N. D. iii. i. 168: "gambol in his 
eyes." Steevens cites Ha7n. iv. 4. 6 : " We shall express our duty 
in his eye ;" that is, in our personal attendance upon him. 

210. And made their bends adornings. This is the great crux of 
the play. The notes upon it in the Variorum of 1821 fill six pages, 
and include some very amusing matter. More recent commenta- 
tors have added a good deal more of the same sort. If the old 
text be right, the simplest explanation is that they made their 
obeisance, or bowed, with such grace that it added to their beauty ; 
or, as Steevens puts it, " each inclined her person so gracefully 
that the very act of humiliation was an improvement of her own 
beauty." This idea of grace in doing service follows naturally 
enough the mention of their waiting upon her in the preceding 
line. The part of North's account which corresponds to made their 
bends adornings seems to be the statement that the gentlewomen 
were apparelled "like the Graces," and this must suggest a refer- 
ence to grace in their movements. 1 believe that in all that has 
been written on the passage, no one has called attention to the 
very close paraphrase of North which S. gives : " Her ladies and 
gentlewomen . . . were apparelled //i^ //z^ nymphs i\'^^rfZ(r/j' (which 
are the mermaids of the waters) and" — after getting so far we 
have only to seek a parallel for " like the Graces ; " and may we 
not find it in made their bends adornings ? — made their very obei- 
sance, as they tended her, like that of the Graces waiting on Venus. 

211. Tackle. As a kind of "collective" noun, it here takes a 
plural verb. 



232 Notes [Act II 

212. Szuell. Perhaps suggested by the swelling of the sails, and 
possibly with the added figurative idea of palpitating, as it were, 
with pleasure at the touch. 

213. Yarely. Readily, deftly. Cf. yare ( = quick) in v. 2. 283 
below. 

215. Wharfs. Banks; used by S. only here and in Ham. i. 5. 
11 : " on Lethe wharf." 

218. Btit for vacancy. But that it would produce a vacuum. 

226. Barber'' d ten times o'er. Cf. 8 above, for the contrast. 

227. His ordinary. His supper, his meal. Cf. A. W. ii. 3. 211 ; 
" for two ordinaries." S. uses the noun nowhere else except in 
A. Y. L. iii. 5. 42: "the ordinary Of Nature's sale-work." 

228. Wench. In the time of S. " not always used in a bad sense, 
but as a general familiar expression, in any variation of tone be- 
tween tenderness and contempt " (Schmidt). 

233. Did make defect perfection. An expression not unlike 
made their bends adornings above. 

237. Stale. Render stale. Cf. J. C. i. 2. 73 : " To stale with 
ordinary oaths my love ; " Id. iv. i. 38 : " out of use and stal'd by 
other men," etc. 

239, But she makes hungry, etc. Cf. V. and A. 19: — 

" And yet not cloy thy lips with loath'd satiety, 
But rather famish them amid their plenty," 

and Per. v. I. 113: " Who starves the ears she feeds, and makes 
them hungry." 

241. Become themselves. Are becoming. Cf. Sonn. 150. 5 : 
" Whence hast thou this becoming of things ill ? " 

242. Riggish. Wanton (from rig, a harlot) ; the only instance 
of the word in S. 

Scene III. — 3. Bow my prayers. That is, in my prayers. 
6. Kept ?ny sqtiare. Explained by the context. Cf. the use of 
the verb in ^. 7". v. i. 52 : — 



Scene III] Notes 233 

" O that ever I 
Had squar'd me to thy counsel ! " 

14. In my motion. In my mind, "intuitively" (Schmidt). Cf. 
A, W. iii. I. 13 : — 

" like a common and an outward man, 
That the great figure of a council frames 
By self-unable motion ; therefore dare not 
Say what I think of it ; " 

20. Thy demon, that thy spirit, etc. The reading of the 1st 
folio; the 2d has "that 's thy." Cf. the passage in North, p. 190 
above. The wording of this seems to have suggested the change 
in the 2d folio, and has led some of the modern editors to adopt 
that reading. Abbott ( Grammar, 239) finds only one instance of 
the demonstrative before a possessive pronoun in S. (^J. C. ii. i. 
112 : "this our lofty scene") ; but the combination is not uncom- 
mon in the plays. Cf. I/en. V. iv. 8. 96, T. and C.\. i. 55, y. C. v. 
5. 27, Macb. i. 7. 53, ii. 2. 61, iii. 6. 48, etc. See also iii. 5. 17 and 
iv. 14. 79 in the present play. For demon — genius, or attendant 
spirit, cf. Macb. iii. i. 56 : — 

" There is none but he 
Whose being I do fear; and under him 
My Genius is rebuk'd, as it is said 
Mark Antony's was by Caesar ; " 

and C. of E. v. i. 332 : — 

" One of these men is Genius to the other; 
And so of these. Which is the natural man, 
And which the spirit ? " 

23. A fear. Apparently a simple personification, though 
Thirlby's conjecture of " afeard " is plausible enough. 
28. Thicke7is. Grows dim. Cf. Macb. iii. 2. 50 : — 

" Light thickens, and the crow 
Makes wing to the rooky wood." 



I 



2 34 Notes [Act II 

34. The very dice, etc. Cf. North, p. 191 above. 

35. Cunning. Skill ; as in iii. 12. 31 below. Cf. Psalms, cxxxvii, 
5, and the adjective in Genesis, xxv. 27, etc. 

36. Speeds. Has good luck, prospers ; as often. 

38. All to nought. That is, when the odds are as everything to 
nothing. Cf. Rich. III. i. 2. 238 : "And yet to win her, — all the 
world to nothing ; " and Cor. v. 2. 10 : " it is lots to blanks." 

Quails. " The ancients used to match quails as we match cocks " 
(Johnson). The birds were inhoop''d, or confined within a circle, 
to keep them " up to the scratch ; " or, as others say, the one that 
was driven out of the hoop was considered beaten. 

Scene IV. — 6. At the Mount. That is, at Misenum. 
8. About. That is, by a roundabout way. Cf. Macb. iii. 3. 1 1 T 
" His horses go about." 

Scene V. — i . Moody. Pensive, sad ; as in C. of E. v. i . 79, 
etc. Cf. T. N.'x. \. \ : " If music be the food of love, play on." 

3. Billiards. An anachronism, as Malone and others have 
pointed out ; but S, may have been aware of it. The game was 
popular in his day. He mentions it only here. 

8. Shozv'd. S. uses both showed and shown as the participle ; 
so bended (12 below) and bent. 

10. Angle. Angling'-line. The word is used literally by S. only 
here ; but figuratively in W. T. iv. 2. 52 and Ham. v. 2. 66. 

15. ^ T was merry when, etc. See North, p. 186 above. 

18. Fervency. Eagerness ; the only instance of the word in S. 
Fervent does not occur in his works. 

22. Tires. Head-dresses. Cf. M. W. iii. 3. 60 : " thou hast 
the right arched beauty of the brow that becomes the ship-tire, the 
tire-valiant, or any tire of Venetian admittance." 

23. Philippan. Used in the battle of Philippi ; probably not 
intended to be a name for the sword (like Arthur's Excalibur^, as 
some have understood it. 



Scene V] Notes 235 

24. Ram. Hanmer changes the word to " Rain ; " and Delius 
conjectures "Cram," as in Temp. ii. i. 106. Malone compares 
/. C. V. 3. 74. 

26, Antony 's dead! The reading of the 2d foho ; the 1st has 
'■'■ Anthonyo''s dead." The Cambridge editors adopt Dehus's con- 
jecture of " Antonius dead ! " 

27. Mistress. A trisyllable. Cf. frustrate in v. 1.2 below. 

30. Lipp'd. The verb occurs again in 0th. iv. i. 72: "To lip a 
wanton in a secure couch." 

32. We use. We are accustomed. We do not now use the 
present in this sense. Cf. Temp. ii. i. 175: "they always use to 
laugh at nothing," etc. 

"^T)' The dead are well. For this euphemism, cf. W. T.\. i. 30, 
2 Hen. IV. V. 2. 3, R. and J. iv. 5. 76, v. i. 17, etc. It seems to 
have been suggested by 2 Kings, iv. 26. 

38. So tart a favour. So sour a face. For favour y cf. Macb. i. 
5. 73, etc. 

41. Formal. Ordinary, common. Cf. C. of E.y. i. 105, etc. 

51. Precedence. What has gone before; as in the only other 
instance in which S. uses the word — L. L. L. iii. i. 83. The 
accent is on the penult there as here. 

64. Unhair. The only instance of the verb in S. Unhair^d 
(= beardless) is a conjectural reading in K. John, v. 2. 133, where 
the early eds. have " unheard." 

71. Boot thee with. Give thee to boot. 

74. Have made no fault. Cf. W. T. iii. 2. 218 : "you have 
made fault ; " Sonn. 35. 5 : " All men make faults," etc. 

75. Keep yotirself within yourself That is, do not get beside 
yourself with passion. Steevens compares T. of S. ind. i. 100: 
" we can contain ourselves." 

78. Melt Egypt ijtto Nile! Cf. i, i. 33 above : "Let Rome in 
Tiber melt." 

81. A fear d. Used by S. interchangeably with afraid. Cf. iii. 
3. I below. 



12,6 



Notes [Act II 



90. IVorser. Used by S. some twenty times. Cf. i. 2. 59 above., 

96. Narcissus. Cf. V. and A. 161 : — 

" Narcissus so himself himself forsook 
And died to kiss his shadow in the brook." 

See also R. of L. 265. 

97. 7'hou zvouldst appear i7iost ugly. That is, " this news hath 
made thee a most ugly man " (^K. John, iii. i. 37). 

loi. Much unequal. Very unjust. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iv. i. 102: — 

" To lay a heavy and unequal hand 
Upon our honours." 

103. That art not what thou Wt sure of. The reading of the 
folios, much tinkered by the editors. Knight explains it thus : 
"Thou art not an honest man, of which thou art thyself assured, 
because thy master's fault has made a knave of thee." Clarke 
says : " Who art not thyself that fault which thou art so sure has 
been coinmitted. The messenger has before said, ' I that do bring 
the news made not the match,' and ' I have made no fault ; ' and 
he has so often repeated his assertion that Antony is married that 
Cleopatra alludes to it as ' what thou 'rt sure of.' " Verplanck 
thinks it may be = "Thou (the bearer) art not thyself the evil 
thing of which thou art so certain, and dost not merit to bear its 
odium." Herford, perhaps rightly, takes it to be ironical and = 
" That art innocent, forsooth, of offences, yet sure to offend ! " 
Many emendations have been proposed. 

105. Are. The subject merchandise (= goods) is treated as a 
plural. Cf. tackle in ii. 2. 211 above. 

112. Feature. Personal appearance. Cf. K. John, ii. I. 126: 
" Liker in feature to his father Geffrey." See also Id. iv. 2. 264, 
Rich. III. i. I. 19, Hen. VIII. iii. 2. 50, / am. iii. i. 167, iii. 2. 25, 
Lear, iv. 2. 63, etc. S. uses the plural only in Temp. iii. I. 52. 

116. Thotigh he be painted, etc. Alluding, as Staunton notes, to 
the " double " pictures formerly in vogue, of which Burton says : 



Scene VI] Notes 237 

" Like those double or turning pictures ; stand before which you 
see a fair maid, on the one side an ape, on the other an owl." Cf. 
Chapman, All Fools, i. I : — 

" But like a couzening picture, which one way 
Shows like a crow, another like a swan." 

Scene VI. — 7. Tall. Stout, sturdy. Cf. M. W. ii. 2. 1 1 : 
"good soldiers and tall fellows," etc. 

13. Ghosted. Used by S. only here. Steevens quotes an in- 
stance from Burton, Anat. of Melan. preface : " What madnesse 
ghosts this old man? but what madnesse ghosts us all? " 

24. Fear. Frighten. Cf. M. of V. ii. i. 9: — 

" this aspect of mine 
Hath fear'd the valiant." 

27. Overcount me of my father'' s house. As Malone notes, " o''er- 
count seems to be used equivocally, and Pompey perhaps meant to 
insinuate that Antony not only outnutnbered but had overreached 
him." According to Plutarch, "when Pompey's house was put to 
open sale, Antonius bought it ; but when they asked him money 
for it, he made it very strange, and was offended with them." See 
also p. 189 above. 

28, But since the cuckoo builds not for himself etc. " Since, like 
the cuckoo, that seizes the nests of other birds, you have invaded a 
house which you could not build, keep it while you can " (Johnson). 
For other allusions to this habit of the cuckoo, cf. i Hen. IV. v. i. 
60, Lear, i. 4. 235, and R. of L. 849. 

30. From the present. Away from, or foreign to, the present 
business. 

34. To try a larger fortune. That is, in trying, or if you try, for 
more at the hands of Fortune. He hints that in risking the chances 
of war he may lose rather than gain. The " indefinite " use of the 
infinitive is common in S. 

37. Greed. The reading of the ist and 2d folios; the 3d and 



238 Notes [Act II 

4th (followed by most of the modern eds.) have "'greed; " but it 
is not a contraction of agreed. 

39. Targes. Targets, shields ; as in Cymb. v. 5. 5, where, as 
here, the word is a monosyllable. 

42. Though I lose, tic. Clarke remarks: "The historical fact 
of Sextus Pompey's having courteously received Antony's mother in 
Sicily when she fled from Italy is recorded by Plutarch; but the 
touch of delicacy in sentiment — declaring that to remind or re- 
proach another with a benefit conferred is to forfeit the merit of it 
— is the dramatist's own exquisite addition. S. has more than once 
taken occasion to enforce this refinement in social morality ; he hafj 
made that noble-minded, warm-natured, delicate-souled being, An- 
tonio, the sea-captain in T. N. (whom we can never help associ- 
ating, in strange closeness of analogy, with S. himself in character 
and disposition), say [iii. 4. 383] : — 

" ' Do not tempt my misery, 
Lest that it make me so unsound a man 
As to upbraid you with those kindnesses 
That I have done for you.' " 

47. Am- well studied. Am studious or earnestly desirous. Cf. 
2 Hen. IV. ii. 2. 10 : " so loosely studied ; " and M. of V. ii, 2. 205 : 
" well studied is a sad ostent," etc. 

51. Timelier. Earlier, sooner. Cf. Macb. ii. 3. 5, Cymb. i. 6. 
97, etc. 

54. What counts harsh fortune casts. The metaphor, as Warbur- 
ton notes, is from making marks or lines in casting accounts. 

70. A certain queen, etc. Ritson says : " This is from the mar- 
gin of North's Plutarch, 1579: 'Cleopatra trussed up in a mattress, 
and so brought to Caesar upon Apollodorus' back ; ' " but this mar- 
ginal reference is to the following in the text : " She, orily taking 
Apollodorus Sicilian of all her friends, took a little boat, and went 
away with him in it in the night, and came and landed hard by the 
foot of the castle. Then having no other mean to come into the 



i 



Scene VII] Notes 239 

court without being known, she laid herself down upon a mattress 
or flockbed, which Apollodorus her friend tied and bound up to- 
gether like a bundle with a great leather thong, and so took her 
upon his back and brought her thus hampered in this fardle unto 
Caesar in at the castle gate. This was the first occasion (as it is 
reported) that made Qissar to love her : but afterwards, when he 
saw her sweet conversation and pleasant entertainment, he fell then 
in further liking with her, and did reconcile her again unto her 
brother the king, with condition that they two jointly should reign 
together." 

73. Are toward. Are in preparation. Cf. T. of A. iii. 6. 68: 
"Here's a noble feast toward;" T. of S. v. i. 14: "some cheer is 
toward," etc. 

83, Have known. That is, have known each other. Cf. Cymb. 
i. 4. 36: "Sir, we have known together in Orleans." 

98. True = honest ; as often. For its use in antithesis to thief 
cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 187 : "a true man or a thief," etc. 

116. Pray ye, sir ? Are you in earnest? 

118. Is. The singular verb with two singular subjects is not 
uncommon. 

119. Divine of Predict concerning. Cf. Rich. IT. iii. 4. 79: 
" divine his downfall," etc. 

126. Conversation. Behaviour, conduct. Cf. 2 Hen^ IV. v. 5. 
106, M. W. ii. I. 25, etc. See also Hebrews, xiii. 5. 

134. Occasion. Need, necessity (Schmidt). Cf. T. of A. iii. 3. 
15 : " But his occasions might have wooed me first," etc. 

Scene VII. — i. Enter . . . with a banquet. That is, with a 
dessert. Cf. T. of S. v. 2. g: — 

" My banquet is to close our stomachs up 
After our great good cheer." 

Nares quotes Massinger, Unnatural Combat: — 

" We '11 dine in the great room, but let the music 
And banquet be prepared here." 



I 



240 Notes [Act II 

See also Lord Cromwell, 1 602 : — 

" "T is strange, how that we and the Spaniard dilfer ; 
Their dinner is our banquet after dinner." 

2. Plants. As Johnson notes, there seems to be a play on the 
word as applied to the soles of the feet {VjaXva plantd) . Steevens 
cites Lupton, Notable Things: "the plants or soles of the feet;" 
and Chapman, Iliad: " Even to the low plants of his feete." 

5. Alms-drink. Warburton says that this means " that liquor 
of another's share which his companion drinks to ease him." He 
sees also a satirical allusion to " C^sar and Antony's admitting him 
into the triumvirate, in order to take off from themselves the load 
of envy." Cf. y. C. iv. i. 18 fol. Schmidt, with more probability, 
takes it to mean " the leavings," such as might be served to those 
too tipsy to know the difference. 

6. Pinch one another by the disposition. " As they try each other 
by banter" (Clarke). 

13. Partisan. A kind of halberd. Cf. R. and J^ i. i. 80, loi. 
Ham. i. i. 140, etc. 

15. Are the holes, etc. The comparison is expressed elliptically : 
" is as sorry a blank as are the empty spaces," etc. In sphere we 
have an allusion to the old Ptolemaic astronomy, according to which 
the heavenly bodies were set in hollow crystal spheres, by the revo- 
lution of which they were carried round. Cf. Temp. ii. I. 183, 
M. N. D. ii. I. 7. 153, iii. 2. 61, etc. Disaster — injure, disfigure ; 
the only instance of the verb in S. Schmidt remarks that it is 
"rather blunderingly used;" but it was an astrological term and 
is probably suggested here by the figure that precedes. 

17. They take the flozv d' the Nile, etc. S. probably got this 
information either from Holland's Pliny or from John Pory's 
translation of Leo's Hist, of Africa, 1600. 

20. Poison. Full harvest, plenty; as in Temp. ii. I. 163, iv. I. 
no, Macb. iv. 3. 88, Sonn. 53. 9, etc. 

26. Your serpent, etc. For the colloquial use of your, cf. Ham. 
iv. 3. 24 : " Your worm is your only emperor for diet," etc. 



i 



Scene VII] Notes 241 

34. In. That is, "in for it" (= drunk). 

36. Pyramises. The singular pyramis was in use in the time 
of S. (cf. I Hen. VI. i. 6. 21), but the plural is his own, and is 
probably intended as a touch of drunken enunciation. In v. 2. 61 
below we have pyraiuides. The booziness of Lepidus is well hit 
off here. " His feeble attempt at scientific inquiry, in the remark 
concerning your serpent of Egypt, his flabbily persistent researches 
touching jcz^r crocodile, and his limp recurrence to his pet expres- 
sion strange serpent, are all conceived in the highest zest of comic 
humour" (Clarke). 

43. This wine for lepidus ! This is "the health that Pompey 
gives him" (55 below). 

47. // 01071. The old possessive it is used by S. fourteen times, 
and in six of these it occurs in the phrase it own. 

61. Held my cap off. Been a servant, been faithful. 

72. Inclips. Embraces, encloses. Cf clip in iv. 8. 8 below. 
On pales, cf Cymb. iii. I. 19: "paled in With rocks," etc. 

74. Competitors. Partners, associates. See on i. 4. 3 above. 

77. There. Changed by Pope to " then," which is very plausible 
if any change is called for ; but there may be accompanied with a 
gesture towards the company they have left. Mr. Symons (" Henry 
Irving" ed.) objects to this explanation of mine that "it was not 
Caesar and Lepidus that Antony [Pompey?] wanted to have pos- 
session of ; " to which the preceding part of the sentence is a 
sufficient answer. Menas suggests cutting the throats of all the 
triumvirs. 

86. PaWd. Impaired, waning ; the only instance of this sense 
in S. 

88. This health to lepidus ! But Lepidus is already " under the 
table," so to speak. We have heard nothing from him since An- 
tony admonished him (64 above) that he was about to "sink." 

97. Go on wheels I " The world goes on wheels " was a common 
phrase of the time. Taylor the Water-Poet took it for the title of 
one of his pamphlets. 

ANTONY — 16 



k 



242 Notes [Act II, Sc. VII 

98. Reels, Apparently suggested by drunk, and used for the 
sake of the rhyme to w-^^i?/y. Cf. 118 below. Steevens conjectured 
" grease the wheels " for increase the reels I 

loi. Strike the vessels. Probably = " tap the casks," as most 
of the editors have explained it. Cf. Fletcher, Monsieur Thomas, 
V. 10 : " Home, Launce, and strike a fresh piece of wine," etc. 
The word vessels also favours this explanation, being elsewhere 
used of casks or large vessels; as in T. of A. ii. 2. 186: "If I 
would broach the vessels of my love," etc. Some, however, make 
strike the vessels = strike your cups together. Clarke, who adopts 
this explanation, objects to the other that Antony would hardily 
give an order for tapping fresh casks when Pompey was the enter- 
tainer ; but the carousal had now reached a point where none of 
the company would stand overmuch upon etiquette. 

105. Possess it. "Be master of it " (Schmidt). The reading is 
perhaps doubtful. " Profess " and " Propose " have been suggested 
as emendations. 

115. The holding. The "burden" of the song; used by S. in 
this sense only here. 

118. Pink eyne. Winking or half-shut eyes (the effect of in- 
toxication) ; with perhaps a reference to the other sense of red. 
Johnson in his Diet, defines a pink eye as "a small eye," and 
quotes this passage in illustration. Nares quotes Fleming, Nonien- 
clator : " Ayant fort petits yeux. That hath little eyes : pink- 
eyed;" and Wilkins, Alph. Did.: "pink-eyed, narrow eyed." 
For the old plural eyne, cf M. N. D.\. i. 242, ii. 2. 99, iii. 2. 138, 
v. I. 178, etc. We find it without the rhyme in R. of L, 1229 and 
Per. iii. prol. 5. 

119. Fats. "Vats" (Pope's reading). Qi. Joel, ii. 24, iii. 13. 
See also Baret, Alvearie : " A fat, or vat. Orca." 

120. Hairs. For the plural, cf. M. of V. i. 2. 9, iii. 2. 120, 
C. of E. iii. 2. 48, etc. Here, however, it may be used because 
more than one person is referred to. 

128. The wild disgtdse, etc. The wild intoxication hath almost 



t 



Act III, Sc. II] Notes 243 

made antics or buffoons of us all. For the noun antic, of. Rich. 11. 
iii. 2. 162: "and there the antic sits;" i Hen. IV. i. 2. 69: "old 
father Antic the law," etc. S. has the verb only here. 



ACT III 



Scene I. — i. Struck. "Alludes to darting: thou whose darts 
have so often struck others art struck now thyself" (Johnson). 

4, Thy Pacorics, etc. Pacorus was the son of Orodes, king of 
Parthia. 

10. Chariots. Some would read "chariot ;" but, as Clarke re- 
marks, " a plural form, used in this way, is not unfrequent among 
poets and poetic writers or speakers, to give the effect of am- 
plitude and generalization." 

13. May make too great an act. Make an act too great ; that 
is, as the context shows, because it may excite the jealousy of one's 
superior in office. 

15. Him we serve '5 away. For the " confusion of construction " 
(or "attraction," as some prefer to call it), cf. A. Y. L. i. i. 46: 
"Ay, better than him I am before knows me," etc. 

24. Darkens him. Obscures himself. Cf. Cor. iv. 7. 5 : — 

" And you are darken'd in this action, sir, 
Even by your own." 

29. Grants. Affords, allows. Warburton remarks: "The sense 
is this: 'Thou hast that, Ventidius, which if thou didst want, there 
would be no distinction between thee and thy sword. You would 
be both equally cutting and senseless.' This was wisdom or 
knowledge of the world." 

34. Jaded. Driven like Jades, or worthless nags. For the verb, 
cf. Hen. VIII. iii. 2. 80: "To be thus jaded by a piece of scarlet." 

Scene II. — 6. 'T is. Used contemptuously; as in AI. of V. 
iii. 3. 18, He7t. F. iii. 6. 70, R. and J. iv. 2. 14, etc. For the 
familiar use, cf. Macb. i. 4. 58, etc. 



k 



244 Notes [Act III 

1 1. Hoo ! The ist folio has " How," the later folios " Oh ! " or 
" Oh ? " The folio often has how for Jio or hoo, and the latter is a 
favourite exclamation of Enobarbus. In 1 6 below the first three 
folios have Hoo ! the fourth, Ho ! 

"12. Thou Arabian bird! The phoenix. Cf. Cynib. i. 6. 17: 
" She is alone the Arabian bird ; " Tenip. iii. 3. 22 : — 

"Now I will believe 
That there are unicorns, that in Arabia 
There is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix 
At this hour reigning there," etc. 

17. Cast. Compute ; as in Sonn. 49. 3, 2 Hen. IV. v. I. 21, etc. 
Cf ii. 6. 54 above. Number = express in numbers, or verse ; the 
only instance of this sense in S. For the construction, cf. iii. 4. 
18 and iv. 12. 8 below. 

20. Shards. The horny wing-cases of the "sharded" (^Cymb. 
iii. 3. 20) or " shard-borne beetle " (^Macb. iii. 2. 42) . The meaning 
is : " they are the wings that raise this heavy lumpish insect from 
the ground." 

26. As my farthest band, etc. " As I will venture the greatest 
pledge of security on the trial of thy conduct " (Johnson) ; or, as I 
will pledge any thing that you will prove to be. For band = bond, 
cf. J^ich. If. i. I. 2, I Hen. IV. iii. 2. 157, C. of E. iv. 2. 49, etc. 
For approof cf. A. W. ii. 5. 3 : " of very valiant approof " (= of 
approved valour), and see also Id. i. 2. 50. 

28. Piece of virtue. Cf. Temp. i. 2. 56 : " Thy mother was a 
piece of virtue; " and Per. iv. 6. 118 : " Thou art a piece of virtue." 
For similar examples of piece = masterpiece, see IV. T. iv. 4. 32, 
lear, iv. 6. 137, and v. 2. 99 below. White argues that piece in 
these and sundry other passages is = woman ; but this seems to 
me very doubtful. 

29. Cement. S. accents both the noun and the verb (which 
occurs only in ii. I. 48 above) on the first syllable. 

32. Mean. Means ; as often. Cf. iv. 6. 35 below, and W. T. 
iv. 4. 89, R. and J. iii. 3. 42, v. 3. 240, etc. 



A 



Scene III] Notes 245 

35. Curious. Careful, punctilious, scrupulous. Cf. A. W. i. 2. 
20, Cyrnb. i. 6. 191, etc. 

40. The elements, etc. The wish probably refers to her voyage 
to Egypt. Cf. 0th. ii. i. 45 : — 

" O, let the heavens 
Give him defence against the elements, 
For I have lost him on a dangerous sea ! " 

43. The ApriVs in her eyes. Alluding to " April showers." 
Cf. T. and C. i. 2. 189 : " he will weep you, an 't were a man born 
in April." See also T. G. of V. i. 3. 84 fol. 

49. At full of tide, etc. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. ii. 3. 63 : — 

" As with the tide swell'd up unto his height, 
That makes a still-stand, running neither way." 

52. Were he a horse. "A horse is said to have a clotid in his 
face when he has a black or dark-coloured spot between his eyes. 
This gives him a sour look, and, being supposed to indicate an ill 
temper, is of course regarded as a blemish " (Steevens). 

57. Rheutn. A cold in the head, or some other ailment that 
affected his eyes ; which Enobarbus sarcastically suggests as the ex- 
planation of his tears. Cf. what he says in i. 2. 165: "the tears 
live in an onion," etc. Rheum is often used with reference to 
tears ; as in Much Ado., v. 2. 85, K. John, iii. i. 22, iv. i. 33, iv. 3. 
108, etc. For its use in the present passage, cf. T. and C. v. 3. 
105 : " and I have a rheum in mine eyes too, and such an ache in 
my bones," etc. 

58. Confound. Destroy ; as in ii. 5. 92 above. WaiVd — be- 
wailed ; as often. Cf. V. and A. 1017, C. of E. iv. 2. 24, Cor. iv. i. 
26, etc. 

62. Wrestle. The 1st and 2d folios have "wrastle," which is 
still the vulgar pronunciation. 

Scene III. — 3. Herod of Jewry. See on i. 2. 27 above. 
14. As me. Cf. J. C. i. 3. 76 : " no mightier than thyself or me," 
etc. 



I 



246 Notes [Act 



1 



22. Station. Mode of standing, Cf. ZT^x^w. iii. 4.58: "A station 
like the herald Mercury," etc. 

24. Breather. Cf. Sotut. 81. 11 : "When all the breathers of 
this world are dead." See also A. Y. L. iii. 2. 297. 

25. Observance. Observation. Cf. A. W. iii. 2. 5 : " By what 
observance, I pray you? " 0th. iii. 3. 151 : " Out of his scattering 
and unsure observance," etc. So make better note = be better 
observers. 

37. As low as. Capell conjectured " Lower than ; " but the 
original is a cant phrase with that meaning. 

41, Proper. Often used in a complimentary way. See Temp. 
ii. 2. 63, T. G. of V. iv. i. 10, etc. 

43. Harried. Worried, used roughly ; the only instance of the 
word in S. Minsheu in his Diet., 161 7, defines the word, "To 
turmoile or vexe." 

44. No such thing. That is, no such remarkable thing, nothing 
extraordinary. 

46. Defend. Forbid. Cf. Much Ado, ii. i. 98: "God defend 
the lute should be like the case ! " etc. 

Scene IV. — 3. Semblable. Like, similar; as in I Hen. IV. 
V. I. 72, Ham. v. 2. 124, etc. 

10. From his teeth. That is, for form's sake, not from his heart. 
Cf. Dryden, Wild Gallant : " I am confident she is only angry 
from the teeth outward." 

12. Stomach. Resent. See on ii. 2. 9 above. 

15. Presently. At once; as in ii. 2. 160 above. 

16. 0, bless my lord, etc. Cf. K. Jolm, iii. i. 331. fol. for a very 
similar passage. 

27. Stain. EcHpse, throw into the shade. Cf. Somi. 35. 3 : 
" Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun ; " and Rich. II. iii. 

3- 66 : — 

" To dim his glory, and to stain the track 
Of his bright passage to the Occident." 

28. Your desires are yours. You have what you desire. 



Scene VI] Notes 247 

Scene V. — 5. Success. Issue, that which succeeds or follows ; 
as in ii. 4. 9 above. Cf. T. and C. ii. 2. 117 : "Nor fear of bad 
success," etc. 

7. Rivality. Copartnership, equahty ; the only instance of the 
word in S. Cf. rivals = associates, companions; as in Ham. i. I. 
13 : "The rivals of my watch," etc. 

10. Appeal. Impeachment; as in 7?zV/z. //. i. i. 4 and iv. i. 45. 
79. Up = shut up. 

13. And throw bettveen the?n, etc. "Caesar and Antony will 
make war on each other, though they have the world to prey upon 
between them." 

19. More, Dojnilius, etc. "I have something more to tell you, 
which I might have told at first, and delayed my news : Antony 
requires your presence " (Johnson). 

Scene VI. — 3. /' the market-place, etc. See North, p. 184 
above. 

9. Stablishment. Settled inheritance ; the only instance of the 
word in S. Establishnent he does not use at all, though he has 
both establish and stablish (i Hen. IV. v. I. 10). 

10. Lydia. Johnson adopts Upton's conjecture of "Lybia" 
(from Plutarch), but North has " Lydia." 

20. Who. That is, the people of Rome. Queasy with = dis- 
gusted with. 

23. Who. Cf. M. of V. ii. 6. 30: " For who love I so much ? " 
Cor. ii. I. 8 : " Who does the wolf love ? " etc. The 2d foho which 
corrects many of the syntactical errors of the ist has " Whom." 

39. Enter Octavia with her train. The stage-direction in the 
folios. Some omit with her train, as inconsistent with what fol- 
lows ; but Caesar simply wonders that she comes with so small a 
retinue. Antony had told her (iii. 4. 37 above) to take what 
" company " she pleased. 

53. Leftunlov'd. "Held" and "felt" have been suggested in 
the place of left; but it is not unlikely that S. wrote left unlov'd, 



248 



Notes [Act III 



which certainly suggests the meaning, though something of logical 
precision is sacrificed to the antithesis. The editors of the eigh- 
teenth century were not troubled by it, and it has been generally 
retained by their successors. Schmidt says that left unlov'd is =: 
" not felt ; to love a love being a phrase like to think a thotight^'' etc. 

61. Obsti'uct. The folios have "abstract," which Schmidt ex- 
plains as "the shortest way for him and his desires, the readiest 
opportunity to encompass his wishes." Obstruct was suggested by 
Warburton and is adopted by most of the editors. 

67. Who. Referring to both of them. 

69. Bacchus, the king of Libya, etc. See North, p. 196 above. 

76. More larger. Double comparatives and superlatives are 
common in Elizabethan literature. Cf. Acts, xxvi. 5, etc. Ay me 
is changed by Hanmer and others to "Ah me!" which S. has 
only in R. andy. v. i. 10. 

80. Wrong led. Misled, changed by Capell to "wrong'd." 

81. In negligent danger. In danger from being negligent. 
89. Best of comfort. May the best of comfort be yours ! 

95. Regiment. Rule, sway. Trull ^=\\zx\o\. ; as in i Hen. IV. 
ii. 2. 28, etc. Johnson remarks that the word was not " a term of 
mere infamy, but one of slight contempt, as wench is now ; " but 
there can be no doubt of its meaning here. 

96. Noises it. Is noisy, or raises a disturbance. 

98. Dear''st. These contracted superlatives (like sweefst, 
kindest, eld'st, etc.), often very harsh, were a fashion of the time. 

Scene VII. — 3. Forspoke. Spoken against, gainsaid. It often 
meant "to bewitch, or destroy by speaking" (Nares); as in Dray- 
ton, Her. Epist. : — 

" Their hellish power, to kill the ploughman's seed 
Or to forspeake whole flocks as they did feed; " 

The Witch of Edmonton : — 

" That my bad tongue, by their bad usage made so, 
Forespeakes their cattle, doth bewitch their corn ; " 



Scene VII] Notes 249 

and Burton, Anat. of Melan. : " They are in despair, surely fore- 
spoken, or bewitched." 

5. /yV not doiounc' d against tis ? Is not the war declared 
against us ? See North, p. 195 above : " he proclaimed open war 
against Cleopatra," etc. Cf. the use of denunciation ( = formal 
declaration) in M. for M. i. 2. 152. 

20. Take in Toiyne. Capture Toryne. See on i. i. 23 above. 

23. Beconi'd. For the form, cf. Cymb. v. 5. 406: "He would 
have well becom'd this place." See also R. a^id J. iv. 2. 26 : " be- 
comed love." 

26. For that. Because; a common use oi that as a "conjunc- 
tional affix." Cf. iii. 13. 80 below. 

32. Muleters. Muleteers. Cf. I Hen. VI. iii. 2. 68 : " base 
rnuleters of France ! " Similar forms are " enginer " (^Ha7n. iii. 
4. 206), " pioner " (^Hani. iii. 2. 92), " mutiner " (^Cor. i. i. 254), 
etc. 

33. Ingross'd by swift impress. Got together by a hurried im- 
pressment or levy. Cf. Ham. i. i. 75: "impress of shipwrights," 
etc. 

35. Yare. Light and manageable. Cf. North: "light of 
yarage." See also on ii. 2. 213 above. 

36. Fall yoii. Befall you, come to you. Cf. K.John, i. i. 78, 
L. L. L. ii. I. 125, etc. 

44. Merely. Entirely, absolutely; as in Te^np. i. i. ^g, Aluch 
Ado, ii. 3. 226, etc. 

54. Power. Force, army ; as often, both in the singular and the 
plural. 

57. My Thetis! My sea-nymph! Cf. T. and C. i. 3. 212 and 
iii. 3. 94. 

62. Have us'd. See on ii. 5. 32 above. 

65. But his whole action, etc. Johnson explains this : "His 
whole conduct becomes ungoverned by the right, or by reason ; " 
but it rather means that his action does not rest on that which 
makes its strength. Malone puts it thus : " His whole conduct in 



250 Notes [Act III 

the war is not founded upon that which is his greatest strength 
(namely, his land force), but on the caprice of a woman, who 
wishes that he should fight by sea." 

72. Carries. Has a range ; probably a metaphor from archery. 
Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 52: "he would have carried you a forehand 
shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half," etc. 

73. Distractions. Divisions, detachments ; the only instance of 
this sense in S. Cf. L. C. 231 : "Their distract parcels." 

77. Throes forth. For the figure, cf. Temp. ii. ,1. 231 : — 

" a birth indeed 
Which throes thee much to yield." 

Scene VIII. — 5. Prescript. Direction, order ; like /r^j'<:rz^/z<?;i! 
in Hen. VIII. i. I. 151. S. uses the noun prescript only here. 
The adjective occurs only in Hen. V. iii. 7. 49. 

6. Jump. Hazard, stake ; the only instance of the noun in S. 
Cf. the verb in Macb. i. 7. 7, Cor. iii. i. 154, and Cymb. v. 4. 188. 

Scene IX. — i. Yond. Not a contraction oi yonder, as often 
printed. 

2. Battle. Army; as in K.John, iv. 2. 78, Hen. V. iv. chor. 9, 
etc. 

Scene X. — 2. Antoniad. The name of Cleopatra's ship. See 
North, p. 196 above. 

5. Synod. In five out of the six passages in which S. uses the 
word, it refers to an assembly of the gods, 

6. Cantle. Piece ; literally, corner. S. uses the word only here 
and in I Hen. IV. iii. I. 100: "a huge half-moon, a monstrous 
cantle out." 

7. With. By ; as often. 

9. Tokened. Spotted. "The death of those visited by the 
plague was certain when particular eruptions appeared on the 
skin; and these were called God^s tokens" (Steevens). Cf. the use 



Scene XI] Notes 251 

of the noun in L. Z. Z. v. 2. 423 (where there is a play upon 
the word) : — 

' " They have the plague, and caught it of your eyes. 
These lords are visited ; you are not free, 
For the Lord's tokens on you do I see ; " 

and T, and C. ii. 3. 187 : — 

" He is so plaguey proud that the death-tokens of it 
Cry ' no recovery.* " 

10. Ribaudred, Lewd, profligate. Some have thought the 
word a corruption of ribaud or ribald; but " ribaudrous " and 
*' ribauldous " are forms found in Baret and other writers of the 
time, and ribaudred vcaxy have been another then in use. 

13. The elder. The superior. Qi. J. C. ii. 2. 46: — 

" We are two lions litter'd in one day, 
And I the elder and more terrible." 

14. Brize. Gadfly. Cf. T. and C i. 3. 48 : — 

" The herd hath more annoyance by the brize 
Than by the tiger." 

17. Loofd. Luffed, brought close to the wind; the only in- 
jutance of the word in S. 

19. Mallard. Drake. Cf. the allusions to the timidity of the 
•wild duck in I Hen. IV. ii. 2. 108 and iv. 2. 21. 

28. Are you thereabouts ? Is that your opinion ? Cf. W. T. 
i. 2. 378 : " 't is thereabouts." 

31. ^T is easy to V. It is easy to go there. Attend— wait for. 

35. Wounded chance. Broken fortunes. Qi. chance m. v. 1. \']\ 
below. 

36. Sits. Often used of the direction of the wind. Cf. Much 
Ado, ii. 3. 102, M. of F.i. i. 8, Rich. II. ii. i. 265, ii. i. 123, etc. 

Scene XL — 3. Lated. Belated; but not a contraction of that 
word. Cf. Macb. iii. 3. 6 : " the lated traveller," etc. 



252 Notes [Act III 

17. Sweep your way. Make it smooth or easy. Cf. Ham. iii. 

4. 204 : *' they must sweep my way," etc. 

18. Loathness. Unwillingness, reluctance ; as in Temp. ii. i. 130 
and Cymb. i. i. 108. 

21. Possess you. Put you in possession. 

23. For indeed I have lost conwiand. Let me entreat you to 
leave me ; for indeed I have lost all power to command you to go 
(Steevens). Pray is antithetical to command. 

35. He at Philippi, etc. Caesar at Philippi kept his sword in the 
scabbard, like one wearing it in the dance. Cf. A. W. ii. i. 33 : — 

" no sword worn 
But one to dance with." 

37. The lea7i and wrinkled Cassius. Ci. /. C. i. 2. 194 fol. 

38. Ended. Cf. iv. 14. 22 below. 

39. Dealt on lieutenantry. Acted by his lieutenants, fought by 
proxy. Cf. iii. i. 16 above: — 

" Caesar and Antony have ever won 
More in their officer than person." 

40. Squares. Squadrons ; as in Hen. V. iv. 2. 28 : " our squares 
of battle." 

44. Unqualitied. Unmanned, deprived of his natural qualities ; 
used by S. only here. 

47. But. Unless ; as not unfrequently. 

49. Reputation. Metrically five syllables. 

50. Unnoble. Elsewhere S. uses ignoble. 

52. How I convey my shame, etc. " How, by looking another 
way, I withdraw my ignominy from your sight" (Johnson). 

54. Stroy^d. Destroyed ; but not a contraction of that word. 

5. uses it nowhere else. 

57. The strings. That is, the heart-strings. 

62. Treaties. Proposals for a treaty. Cf. IC. Johti, ii. I. 481 : — ■ 

"Why answer not the double majesties 
This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town ? " 



I 
I 

I 



Scene XIII] Notes 2^^ 

63. Falter. Shuffle, equivocate. Cf. /. C.\\. \. \2^,Macb.y.%. 
20, etc. 

69. Fall. For the transitive use, cf. R. of L. 1551 : "every tear 
he falls," etc. Rates — rates as much as, is worth. 

71. Schoolmaster. Euphronius, the preceptor of his children by 
Cleopatra. 

Scene XII. — 3. Argument. Proof; Q&'m Mtich Ado,\\. ■^. 2ArZ'' 
" no great argument of her folly," etc. 

5. Which. Who ; as often. Cf. iv, 14. 61 below. 

10. His. Its ; that is, " of the sea from which the dew-drop is 
exhaled " (Steevens) . 

12. Requires. Requests, asks. Qi. Hen. VIII. \\. 4. 144: "In 
humblest manner I require your highness," etc. Note the follow- 
ing requests here. 

18. Circle. Crown ; as in K. John, v. i. 2: "The circle of my 
glory," Cf. round va. Macb. i. 2. 59 and iv. I. 88. 

28. And in our name, etc. White conjectures that we should 
read : — 

" What she requires ; and in our name add more 
Offers from thine invention." 

31. Thyreus. The folios have (as in iii. 13. 73 below) " Thidias ;" 
corrected by Theobald. 

34. Becomes his flaw. " Conforms himself to this breach of his 
fortune" (Johnson). 

36. Fower. That is, bodily organ ; as often. Cf, Ham. iii. 
2. 184: "my operant powers," etc. 

Scene XIII. — i. Think and die. Despond and die. Think 
has the same meaning as " take thought " 'va. J. C. ii. i. 187 : " take 
thought, and die for Csesar." Cf. iv. 6. 35 below. See also 
I Samuel^ ix, 5 and Matthezv, vi. 25. 

5. Ranges. Ranks ; the only instance of the noun in S. 

8. Nick'd. "Set the mark of folly on" (Steevens). Qi.CofE. 
V. I. 175 : "nicks him like a fool." 



254 Notes [Act III 

10. The mered question. The only cause of the dispute. Mered 
seems to be formed from mere, which Rowe substituted. Some 
take it to be from tneere, to divide, and = limited. Cf. Spenser, 
Ruines of Rome, 22. 2 : " Which mear'd her rule with Africa," etc. 

11. Course. Follow, like a hunter coursing or chasing game. 
Cf. Macb. i. 6. 21 : " We cours'd him at the heels," etc. 

26. Comparisons. This may be = " comparative advantages," 
as several of the editors explain it ; but I strongly suspect that it 
is a misprint for " caparisons," as Pope considered it. Cf. V. and A. 
286: " For rich caparisons or trapping gay." 

27. Declined. Fallen in fortune; as in T. and C. iii. 3. 76 and 
iv. 5. 189. 

29. High-battled. Commanding proud armies (cf. battle in iii. 
9. 2 above). 

30. Unstate. Divest of state or dignity. Cf. Lear, i. 2. 108 : 
" I would unstate myself," etc. Stag'd = exhibited as on a stage. 
Cf. v. 2. 217 below. See also M.for M. i. i. 69 : " to stage me to 
their eyes." 

31. Sworder. Gladiator; as in 2 Hen. VI. iv. i. 135 : "A 
Roman sworder and banditto slave." 

32. A parcel of. Of a piece with. 
34. Suffer. Suffer loss or injury. 

41. Square. Quarrel. See on ii. i. 45 above. 

42. The loyalty, etc. That is, to be loyal to fools is mere folly. 
46. Earns a place V the story. Wins renown, is esteemed a 

hero. 

71. Shroud. Shelter, protection. Cf. the verb in 3 Hen. VI. 
iii. I. I : "Under this thick -grown brake we '11 shroud ourselves," 
etc. See also Spenser, F. ^. i. i. 6: "That everie wight to shrowd 
it did constrain " (that is, the rain compelled them to seek shelter). 

74. In deputation. By deputy or proxy. 

77. All-obeying. Which all obey. Such active forms are often 
used passively by S. Cf. R. of L. 983 : " His unrecalling crime;" 
W, T, iv. 4. 543: "Your discontenting father," etc. 



I 



Scene XIII J Notes 255 

80. If that. See on iii. 7. 26 above, 

81. Give me grace. Grant me the favour. 

82. Your Ccesar'^s father. Julius Caesar, who had adopted 
Octavius. 

83. Taking kingdoms in. See on i. i. 23 above. 

85. As. As if. Cf. i. 2. 93 above and iv. i. i below. 

87. Fullest. Most complete, "full-fraught" (//^w. F. ii. 2. 139). 
Cf. 0th. ii. I. 36: "a full soldier" (that is, a perfect one). 

91. A muss. "A scramble, when any small objects are thrown 
down, to be taken by those who can seize them" (Nares). Cf. 
Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iv. I : — 

" The moneys rattle not, nor are they thrown 
To make a muss yet 'mong the gamesome suitors ; " 

Middleton, Spanish Gipsy : "They '11 throw down gold in musses ;" 
and Dryden, prol. to Widow Ranter : — 

" Bauble and cap no sooner are thrown down 
But there 's a muss of more than half the town." 

93. Jack. For the contemptuous use, cf. Rich. III. i. 3. 72 : — 

" Since every Jack became a gentleman, 
There 's many a gentle person made a Jack," etc. 

98. Of she here. Cf. 0th. iv. 2. 3 : " you have seen Cassio and 
she together," etc. 

109. Feeders. Parasites; as in T. of A, ii. 2. 168: "riotous 
feeders." Some make it = servants. 

112. Seel. Blind; originally a term of falconry. Qi. Macb.\\\. 
2. 46, 0th. i. 3. 270, iii. 3. 210, etc. 

120. Luxuriously. Wantonly, lewdly. The only sense of /z/xwrj/ 
in S. is lust ; and so with its derivatives. 

121. Temperance. Chastity; as in 7?. ^/ Z. 884 : "Thatblow'st 
the fire when temperance is thaw'd." 

124. Quit. Requite; as in 151 below. 

127. The hill of Basan. See/Va/wi', Ixviii. 15 andxxii. 12. Cf. 
the reference to "the holy churchyard" in Cor. iii. 3. 51. 



256 Notes [Act III, Sc. XIII 

131. Yare. Ready, prompt. See on iii. 7. 35 above. 

146. Oj'-bs. Spheres. See on ii. 7. 14 above, and cf. iv. 15. 10 
below. 

157. Ties his points ? Does menial service; literally, fastens 
the points, or tagged lacings, of his trunk-hose. For points, cf. 
T. of S. iii. 2. 49: "with two broken points; " I Hen. IV. ii. 4. 
238: "their points being broken," etc. 

161. Determines. Comes to an end, dissolves. Cf. iv. 3. 2 
below. 

162. Casarion. Cf. iii. 6. 6 above. 

165. Discandying. Melting. Cf. iv. 12. 22 below. So candy 
= congeal in Temp. ii. i. 279 and T. of A. iv. 3. 226. 

171. Fleet. " Float " (Rowe's reading). Steevens cites ^^7^/ar^ 
//. .• "This isle shall fleet upon the ocean ; " Tamburlaine, 1590 : 
"fleeting with the tide," etc. See also Spenser, F. Q. ii. 12. 14: — 

" one of those same Islands which doe fleet 
In the wide sea; " 

Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, 286 : " That seemd amid the 
surges for to fleet," etc. 

175. Will earn our chronicle. Will earn historical fame. Cf. 
46 above. 

180. Nice. Dainty, delicate, effeminate. 

183. Gaudy. Joyous, festive ; a use of the word still known at 
Oxford. "The etymology of the word," says Blount in his Diet., 
" may be taken from Judge Gawdy, who (as some affirm) was the 
first institutor of those days ; or rather from gatidium, because (to 
say truth) they are days of joy, as bringing good cheer to the 
hungry students." Of course the latter is the true derivation. 

191. Peep. For the ellipsis oi to, cf. iv. 6. 9 below. 

192. There'' s sap in'' t yet. Cf. Lear, iv. 6. 206: "there's life 
in't." 

197. Estridge. Ostrich; as in i Hen. IV. iv. I. 98: "plum'd 
Like estridges," etc. 



I 



Act IV, Sc. Ill] Notes 257 



ACT IV 

Scene I. — i. As. As if. See on i. 2. 95 and iii. 13. 85 above. 

5. / /iave many other zvays to die. Hanmer changed this to 
"He hath," etc., on the ground that Caesar would not admit the 
probability of Antony's killing him ; but it is probably said ironi- 
cally. It is possible, however, that S. was misled by the ambiguous 
wording of the passage in North. See p. 203 above. 

9. Make boot of. Take advantage of. 

14. Fetch him in. Capture him. Cf. Cymh. iv. 2. 141 : — 

" and swear 
He 'd fetch us in." 

Scene II. — 7. Woo^t. Provincial for wouldst thou or wilt thou. 
Cf. iv. 15. 59 below. 

8. ' Take all.'' "Let the survivor take all. No composition; 
victory or death" (Johnson). Cf. Lear, iii. I. 15: "And bids 
what will take all." The expression is from gaming, meaning "let 
all depend upon this hazard." 

25. Period. End. Cf. iv. 14. 107 below. 

26. Or if a mangled shadozv. " Or if you see me more, you 
will see me a mangled shadozv, only the external form of what I 
was" (Johnson). 

33. Yield. Reward. Cf. "God 'ieldyou!" mHam.'w. 5. 41, 
etc. 

35. Onion-eyed. See on i. 2. 166 above. 

36. Ho, ho, ho ! Used as an expression of mockery or rebuke. 
Cf. M. N. D. iii. 2. 421, T. of A. i. 2. 22, 117, etc. 

44. Death and honour. An honourable death. 

Scene III. — 5. Belike. It is likely, probably. Cf. i. 2. 34 
above. 

13. Music € the air. See North, p. 203 above. 

14, Signs zvell. Is a good sign or omen. 

ANTONY — 17 



258 Notes [Act IV 

22. Give off. Give out, cease. \xiK. John, v. i. 27, the phrase 
is transitive ( = resign) . 

Scene IV. — 2. Chuck. Chick. Cf. Macb. iii. 2. 45, C/,^. iii. 4. 
49, etc. 

5-8. In the 1st folio (followed substantially by the other folios) 
this passage reads thus : — 






" Cleo. Nay, He helpe too, Anthony. 
What 's this for ? Ah let be, let be, thou art 
The Armourer of my heart : False, false : This, this. 
Sooth-law He helpe : Thus it must bee." 



■ 



The arrangement . in the text was suggested by Capell. Thus it 
must be seems to be Cleopatra's remark about the armour she is 
trying to adjust. 

13. Daff't. Doff it, take it off; as in Z. C. 297. Cf. Much 
Ado ii. 3. 176, V. i. 78, etc. 

15. Tight. Handy, adroit. Cf. ^'?^////>' (= adroitly) in J/. W. 
i. 3. 88 and ii. 3. 67. 

16. My wars. For the plural, cf. Cor. i. i. 239, etc. 

23. Port. Gate ; as in Cor. i. 7. i, v. 6. 6, etc. See also on i. 3. 
46 above. 

25. Blown. Referring to the trumpets. Some take it to refer 
to the morning, "the metaphor being implied of night blossoming 
into day." 

28. Well said. Well done ; as often. Cf. 0th. ii. i. 169, v. i. 
98, etc. 

31. Check. Reproof. Cf. 0th. i. i. 149, iii. 3. 67, iv. 3. 20, etc. 

32. Alechanic. Vulgar ; " such as becomes a journeyman " 
(Schmidt) . Cf. v. 2, 209 below. 

Scene V. — 14. Subscribe. Sign the letter. 

Scene VI. — 2. Took. S. uses the forms took, taken, and to' en 
for the participle. 



Scene VIII] Notes 259 

6. The three-nook' d zvorld. Ci. K. John \. "]. 116: "Come the 
three corners of the world in arms," etc. 

7. Shall bear the olive freely. Cf. 2 Hen IV. iv. 4. 87 : "But 
peace puts forth her oHve everywhere." 

9. Plant. For the ellipsis oi to, see on iii. 13. 191 above. 

17. Entertainment. Employment. Cf. A. W. iii. 6. 13 : 
" worthy your lordship's entertainment," etc. 

26. Safd. Gave safe conduct to. Cf. i. 3. 55 above. 

34. This blows my heart. "This generosity swells my heart, 
so that it will quickly break, ' if thought break it not, a swifter 
mean'" (Johnson). 

35. Thought. Sorrowful reflection, taking to heart. See on iii. 
13. I above. For mean, see on iii. 2. 32 above. 

Scene VII. — 2. Our oppression. The oppression, or " opposi- 
tion" (Hanmer's reading), we experience. 

5. Droven. See on i. 2. 90 above. 

6. With clouts about their heads. That is, with their broken 
heads tied up. Cf. y. C. ii. i, 314. 

8. An H. The shape of the gash is referred to ; with perhaps 
a play upon the pronunciation of H, which was the same as that 
of the noun ache. Cf. Much Ado, iii. 4. 56. 

10. Scotches. Cuts, wounds. Cf. the verb in Cor. iv. 5. 198 : 
" scotched him and notched him like a carbonado." S. uses the 
noun only here. 

16. Come thee. Here thee is probably a corruption of thou; as 
in look thee, run thee, hark thee, etc. 

Scene VIII. — 2. Gests. Exploits (Latin gesta). The folios 
have "guests ; " corrected by Theobald. 

5. Dozighty-handed. Stout of hands. S. has doughty only here. 

6. As. As if. See on i. 2. 95 above. 

7. Shoivn. Shown yourselves, appeared ; as in ii. 2. 146 and 
iii. 3. 23 above. 



26o Notes [Act IV 

8. Clip. Embrace. See on inclips, ii. 7. 72 above. 

11. Whole. That is, making them whole or sound again. Cf. 
I Hen. IV. iv. i. 83 : " all our joints are whole," etc. 

12. Fairy. Enchantress. 

15. Proof of harness. Armour of proof; a technical term. Cf. 
Rich. II. i. 3. 73 : " Add proof unto my armour with thy prayers," 
etc. 

16. Triumphing. For the penultimate accent, cf, i Hen. IV. 
V. 4. 14, V. 3. 15, Rich. III. iii. 4. 91, iv. 4. 59, etc. The modern 
accent is more common in S. 

17. Virtue. Valour (Latin z/zV/mj). Cf. Cor. ii. 2. 88 : "valour 
is the chiefest virtue." See also Id. i. i. 41, Lear, v. 3. 103, etc. 

20. Something. Somewhat ; as often. 

22. Get goal for goal, etc. Win goal for goal, get the better of 
youth in the contest. 

25. Manki^id. " Accented mostly on the last syllable in T. of 
A., on the first in the other plays" (Schmidt). 

28. Carbuncled, etc. Cf. Cymb. v. 5. 189 : — 

" had it been a carbuncle 
Of Phoebus' wheel." 

31. Owe. Own ; as very often. Cf. Rich. II. iv. i. 184 : 
"That owes two buckets," etc. Warburton explained /^a^iV /«r- 
gets, etc., as = " hacked as much as the men to whom they belong," 
which may be right. Johnson gives it : "Bear our hacked targets 
with spirit and exultation, such as becomes the brave warriors that 
own them." 

34. Drink carouses. Cf T.of S. i. 2. 277 : "And quaff carouses 
to our mistress' health." See also the verb in Ham. v. 2. 300, 0th. 
ii. 3. 55, etc. 

37. Tabourines. Small drums. Cf. T. and C. iv. 5. 275 : 
" Beat loud the tabourines." 

Scene IX. — 2. The court of guard. The guard-room, or the 
place where the guard musters. Cf. 0th. ii. i . 220 and i Hen. VI. 
ii. I. 4. 



Scene X] Notes 26 1 

3. Embattle. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 2. 14 : " The English are em- 
battled," etc. 

5. Shrezvd. Bad, evil ; the original sense of the word, and the 
most frequent one in S. 

8. Revolted. Who have revolted. Cf. i Hen. IV. iv. 2. 31 : 
" revolted tapsters," etc. Record (noun) is accented by S. on 
either syllable, as suits the measure. 

13. Disponge. Drop, let fall ; used by S. only here. Cf. Temp. 
iv. I. 65 : "spongy April ; " and Cymb. iv. 2. 349 : "the spongy 
south." 

15. Throw my heart, etc. A conceit in keeping with the taste 
of the time. Johnson laments it thus: "The pathetic of Shake- 
speare too often ends in the ridiculous. It is painful to find the 
gloomy dignity of this noble scene destroyed by the intrusion of a 
conceit so far-fetched and unafifecting." 

20. Particular. Personal relation. Cf. i, 3. 54 above. 

22. Fugitive. Deserter ; as in i Hen. VI. iii. 3. 67 : "thrust out 
like a fugitive." 

29. Raught. Reached. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. ii. 3. 43 : "This staff 
of honour raught, there let it stand." We find it as the past tense 
in L. L. L. iv. 2. 41, Hen. V. iv. 6. 21, and 3 Hen. VI. i. 4. 68. 
Reached occurs only in 0th. i. 2. 24, where it is the participle. 

30. Demurely. The word has been suspected, but, as Clarke 
says, it not inaptly expresses " the solemnly measured beat, the 
gravely regulated sound of drums that summon sleeping soldiers to 
wake and prepare themselves for a second day's fighting after a 
first that has just been described by the listeners as a shrewd one 
to us.^'' 

Scene X. — 7. They have put forth the haven. This is all that 
the folios give for the line. The obvious gap has been variously 
filled; as with "Further on," "Hie we on," "Ascend we now," 
" Let us on," etc. The reading in the text is due to Dyce, and 
seems to me the best that has been proposed. 



262 Notes [Act IV 

Scene XI. — i. But being charg'd, etc. Unless we are charged, 
we will remain quiet by land, as, I take it, we shall be allowed to be. 

Scene XII. — i . Yet they are not. They are not yet. For the 
transposition, cf. ii. I. 49 above. 

3. Szvallozvs have built. See North, p. 196 above. 

4. Augurers. The folios have "auguries;" corrected by Capell. 
For augurers, cf. v. 2. 2)ZZ below, Cor. ii. i. i,/. C. ii. i. 200 and 
ii. 2. 37. The noun augurs occurs in Macb. iii. 4. 124, Sonn. 107. 
6, and Phcetiix and Turtle, 7 ; the verb only in ii. i. 10 above. 

8. Give him hope and fear, etc. For the construction, cf. iii. 
2. 16 and iii. 4. 18 above, and iv. 15. 26 below. 

13. Triple-turn' d. Thrice faithless. Cf. iii. 13. 116 fol. above. 

15. Only wars on thee. War only on thee. The transposition 
is very common. 

16. Chartn. Charmer (as in 25 below), in the sense of witch or 
sorceress. Cf. spell in 30 below. 

18. Uprise. Cf. 7\ A. iii. I. 159 : "the sun's uprise." 

21. Spanieird. The folios have " pannelled ; " happily corrected 
by Hanmer. The word was often spelt " spannel." 

22. Discandy. See on iii. 13. 165 above. ' 

25. For grave (which may be = deadly, destructive, as Stee- 
vens explains it), "gay," "great," and "grand," have been pro- 
posed or adopted. 

26. Beck'd. Beckoned, called by a look or nod. Cf. K.John, 
iii. 3. 13 : " When gold and silver becks me to conie on." 

27. Crownet. The crown of my wishes and endeavours. Cf. v. 
2. 91 below. 

28. Bight. Truly deserving the name, very ; as in M. N. D. iii. 
2. 302, A. Y. L. iii. 2. 103, 127, 290, etc. At fast and loose refers 
to an old cheating game. Cf. L. L. L. i. 2. 162, iii. i. 104, and 
K. John, iii. I. 242. 

34. Plebeians. Accented on the first syllable, as in Cor. i. 9. 7 
and V. 4. 39. 



ii 



Scene XIV] Notes 263 

36. Be shown, etc. Be made a show for the lowest and stupid- 
est of the people. The editors generally adopt Thirlby's conjec- 
ture of " doits " for dolts, and explain poor''st diminutives as = the 
pettiest of small coin. But the reference is to Cleopatra's being 
led in triumph through the streets of Rome, a "free show" for the 
rabble, not to her being exhibited for a fee. Besides it seems 
more natural for Antony to emphasize the low character of the 
spectators than the pettiness of the price charged, if there were 
any. The only other instance of diminutives in S. is T. a7id C. v. 
I. '^%, where it means insignificant persons. Mojister-like = as a 
monstrosity ; but it is not necessary to see any reference to the fact 
that monsters were exhibited for money (cf. Temp. ii. 2. 30 fol.). 

39. Prepared. " Which she suffered to grow for this purpose " 
(Warburton). 

43. Nessus. Alluded to again in A. W. iv. 3. 281. 

44. Mine ancestor. See on i. 3. 84 above. 

45. Lichas. The servant of Hercules who brought the poisoned 
shirt from Dejanira, and was thrown by his master into the sea. 
Cf M. of V. ii. I. 32. 

47. Worthiest. That is, of being subdued, or destroyed. Heath 
says : " Though Anthony here uses the word self, his thoughts are 
really upon Hercules, with whom for the moment he identifies him- 
self." This may possibly be right, though the other explanation 
seems to me simpler and more natural. 

Scene XIII. — 2. Telamon for his shield. That is, Ajax Tela- 
mon for the armour of Achilles, the celebrated shield being the 
most valuable part of it. The hoar of Thessaly was the boar killed 
by Meleager. 

3. Emboss' d. F'oaming at the mouth ; a hunter's term. Cf. 
T. of S. ind. i. 17 : "The poor cur is emboss'd." 

Scene XIV. — 8. Pageants. The metaphor is taken from the 
theatrical exhibitions so called. Cf. Temp. iv. I. 155, T. G. of V. 
iv. 4. 164, Z. L. L.\. I, 118, A. Y. L. ii. 7. 138, iii. 4. 55, etc. 



264 



Notes [Act IV 



Hazlitt remarks : "This is, without doubt, one of the finerst 
pieces of poetry in Shakespeare. The splendour of the imagery, 
the semblance of reality, the lofty range of picturesque objects 
hanging over the world, their evanescent nature, the total uncer- 
tainty of what is left behind, — are just like the mouldering schemes 
of human greatness." 

10. The rack dis limns. The floating vapour effaces or blots out. 
For 7'ack, cf. Ham. ii. 2. 506, Temp. iv. I. 156, and Sonn. "XTf 6- 

12. Knave. In its original sense of boy or servant. Cf. L. L. L. 
iii. I. 144, 153, etc. 

18. Mo(. More ; used only with a plural or collective noun. 

19. Packed cards. A term for shuffling them unfairly. 
22. End. See on iii. ii. 38 above. 

26. Die the death. Cf. M. for M. ii. 4. 165, M. N. D. i. i. 65, 
Cymb. iv. 2. 96, etc. See also Matthew, xv. 4. 
33. Rendered. Rendered up, gave up. Cf. iii. 10. 32 above. 

39. The battery from my heart. Boswell explains this : " the 
battery proceeding from my heart, which is strong enough to break 
through the sevenfold shield of Ajax ; I wish it were strong enough 
to cleave my sides and destroy me." 

40. Continent. Container ; the only meaning in S. Cf. M. N. 
D. ii. I. 92, T. N. \. I. 278, M. of V. iii. 2. 131, Lear, iii. 2. 58, 
etc. 

41. Crack. Cf. Tear, ii. i. 92 : "my old heart is crack'd — it 's 
crack'd ! " The word is often used of the heart. 

42. Bruised pieces. Of the armour that Eros is taking off. 
46. Length. That is, lengthening out of life. 

49. Seal then, etc. The metaphor is taken from sealing a legal 
document, which completes it. 

53. jEneas. Hanmer reads " Sich?eus," as Virgil represents 
Dido as shunning .^neas in the lower world and seeking her 
former husband ; but S. forgot for the moment that the lovers 
were not associated in death as in life. 

60. Less noble mind. Being of less noble mind ; an ellipsis not 



II 



Scene XIV] Notes 265 

unlike many others in S. Some editors read "less noble-minded." 
Cf. North, p. 204 above. 

61. Which. Who ; as in iii. 12. 5 above. 

62. Thou art sworn, etc. Cf. y. C. v. 3. 37 fol. where Cassius 
reminds Pindarus of a similar pledge. 

63. Exigent. Exigency ; as in y. C v. i. 19 : "Why do you 
cross me in this exigent? " On the passage, cf. _/. C. v. 3. 36. fol. 

65. Prosecution. Pursuit ; the only instance of the word in S. 
68. Defeat' St. Destroyest. Cf. 0th. iv. 2. 160: "defeat my 
hfe," etc. 

72. Window' d. At a window. The only other instance of the 
word in S. is Lear, iii. 4. 31 : "loop'd and window'd raggedness." 

73. Pleached. Folded. Cf. its use = intertwined, interwoven, 
in Much Ado, iii. i. 7 : "the pleached bower." 

74. Corrigible. Submissive to correction. In 0th. i. 3. 339 it is 
= corrective. S. uses the word only twice. 

75. Penetrative. Used by S. only here. 

76. Branded, etc. Branded with baseness him who followed. 

79. That thy. See on ii. 3. 20 above. 

80. Useful. S. uses the word elsewhere only in K. John, v. 
2. 81. So he has useless only twice : Temp. v. i. 60 and R. of L. 
859 (where it is adverbial). 

87. Lo thee I Cf. W. T. i. 2. 106 : " Why, lo you now." 
98. Got upon me. Forestalled me in gaining. Cf. win upon in 
ii. 4. 9 above. 

100. A bridegroom in my death, etc. Cf. M. for M. iii. i. 83 : — 

" If I must die, 
I will encounter darkness as a bride 
And hug it in my arms." 

107. Period. End ; as in iv. 2. 25 above. 

112. This tidings. S. makes tidings both singular and plural. 
Cf. ii. 5. 87 above with v. i. 27 below. 

113. Enter me with hiin. Secure me a place in his favour, rec- 
ommend me to him. 



266 Notes [Act IV 

■ 117. Sufficing strokes for death. Strokes sufficient for death. 
For owe, see on iv. 8. 31 above. 
123. Disposed. Made terms. 
136. To grace it. By gracing it. 

Scene XV. — 10. Sphere. See on ii, 7. 14 above. If the crys- 
talHne sphere in vt^hich the sun was set were destroyed, the sun 
must fall and the earth become dark. For darkling, cf. M. N. D. 
ii. 2. 86 and Lear, i, 4. 237. 

19. Importune. Accented on the penult, as always in S. 

21. Dare not. That is, dare not descend from the monument. 

23. Imperious. Imperial. Cf. HaJii, v. i. 236 : "Imperious 
Caesar" (where the folios have "Imperial"), etc. 

25. Brooch'' d. Adorned, as with a brooch. Cf. the noun in Ham. 

iv. 7. 94 : — 

" he is the brooch indeed 

And gem of all the nation." 

See also Rich. II. v. 5. 66. 

26. Edge, sting or operation. Hanmer reads " operation, or 
sting;" but cf. R. of L. 615, 616 : — 

" For princes are the glass, the school, the book, 
Where subjects' eyes do learn, do read, do look." 

For the construction, see on iv. 12. 8 above ; and for the irregu- 
larity in the order of the corresponding words, cf. Lear, iv. 2. 65 
and Cymb. iii. I. 3. 

28. Still conclusion. " Sedate determination; silent coolness of 
resolution" (Johnson). Schmidt is perhaps right in making it = 
" silently drawing inferences in surveying and examining my appear- 
ance." Nares explains it similarly, as = " deep but quiet censure, 
looking demure all the while." 

29. Demuring. Looking demurely, or with affected modesty ; 
the only instance of the verb in S. 

32. Here 's sport indeed I Said, of course, with bitter but most 



Scene XV] Notes 267 

pathetic irony. Johnson supposed it to mean " here 's trifling, you 
do not work in earnest ;" and Steevens that it was intended "to 
inspire Antony with cheerfulness, and encourage those who were 
engaged in the melancholy task." 

2;^. Heaviness. The play upon the word (in its senses of sorrow 
and weight) is in keeping with what precedes. 

39. Quicken. Revive, become quick (see Ha77i. v. I. 137, etc.) 
or alive. Cf. Lear, iii. 7. 39 : " These hairs . . . Will quicken and 
accuse thee." 

44. The false huswife Fortune. Cf. Hen. V.v. i. 85: "Doth 
Fortune play the huswife with me now ? " For the contemptuous 
use oi huswife, cf. 0th. iv. i. 95, etc. Huszoifei?, the usual spelling 
in the old eds. The folio has housewife only three times (^A. Y. L. 
i. 2. 2,3, Hen. VIII. iii. i. 24, 0th. i. 3. 273). 

47. Gentle. Cf. W. T. iv. 4. 46 : " Be merry, gentle," etc. 

59. WooH. See on iv. 2. 7 above. 

64. The garland of the war. Cf . C^r. i. 1 . 1 88 : " Him vile that 
was your garland." See also Id. \. 9. 60 and ii. 2. 105. 

65. The soldier'' s pole. Their standard or rallying point. Schmidt 
makes it " their loadstar." 

66. Odds. Generally singular in S., but sometimes plural ; as in 
M.for M. iii. i. 41 : "these odds," etc. 

67. Remarkable. As Staunton remarks, the word, in the poet's 
time, "bore a far more impressive and appropriate meaning than 
with us ; it then expressed not merely observable or noteworthy, but 
something profoundly striking and uncommon." 

68. Quietness. Calmness. 

73. E'en a woman. This is said in reply to Iras. Mrs. Jameson 
remarks : " Cleopatra replies to the first word she hears on recov- 
ering her senses, ' No more an empress, but a mere woman ! ' " 

75. Chares. Drudgery ; the Yankee " chores." Cf. the Eng- 
lish "char-woman." S. uses the word only here and in v. 2. 231 
below. 

76. Injurious. Malignant. 



268 Notes [Act 



m 

ct Vl 



78. Naught. Worthless, vile ; usually spelt naught in this sense 
in the early eds., as nought when = nothing. 

79. Sottish. Stupid; the only instance of the word in S. For 
sot ■= do\t, fool (the only meaning in S.), of. Temp. iii. 2. loi, 
T. iV. i. 5. 129, etc. 

85. Si7's. For the feminine use, cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 211. See also 
the use of sirrah in v. 2. 229 below. Dyce quotes Beaumont and 
Fletcher, The Coxcomb, iv. 3, where the mother says to Viola, Nan, 
and Madge, " Sirs, to your tasks ; " and A King and No King, ii. 
i: "Fan. Sirs, leave me all. [^Exeunt Waiting-women.^^ 

89. Case. Cf. iv. 14. 41 above and T. N.w. i. 168. 



ACT V 

Scene I. — 2. Frustrate. Frustrated. A trisyllable, like mis- 
tress in ii. 5. 27 above. He inocks the pauses, etc. ; that is, they are 
mere mockery. 

5. Appear thus. That is, with a drawn and bloody sword. 

15. The round world. The line is imperfect, and something 
may have been lost ; but it is not unintelligible as it stands. " S. 
seems to mean that the death of so great a man ought to have pro- 
duced effects similar to those which might have been expected from 
the dissolution of the universe, when all distinctions shall be lost" 
(Johnson). 

21. Self. Same. Cf. C. of E. v. i. 10 : "that self chain," etc. 

24. Splitted. For the form, cf. C. of E. i. i. 104, v. i. 308, and 
2 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 411. For the expression, cf. Rich. III. i. 3. 300: 
" When he shall split thy very heart with sorrow," etc. 

27. Tidings. See on iv. 14. 112 above. But it is = if it be not. 
Cf. V. 2. 103 below. 

30. Fersisted. Persistent, " strenuous." 

31. Wag'd. The reading of the ist folio. The 2d has " way," 
and the 3d and 4th "may." Rowe reads "weigh'd." IVag'd 



Scene II] Notes 269 

seems to be = " were opposed to each other in just proportions, like 
the counterparts of a wager." 

32. Steer humanity. Control a human frame, 

36. Lance. The folios have " launch," which is merely an old 
form of the word, 

37. Perforce. Of necessity ; as in iii. 4, 6 above. 

39. Look. That is, as I noiv do, on thine. Stall = dwell, 
43. In top of all design. In the height of all design, in all lofty 
endeavour. 

46, His. Its ; referring to mine, that is, my heart. 

47, Should divide, etc. " That is, should have made us, in our 
equality of fortune, disagree to a pitch like this, that one of us 
must die" (Johnson). 

50. 77^1? business of this man looks out of him. Cf. Macb. i. 2. 
46:- 

" What a haste looks through his eyes ! So should he look 
That seems to speak things strange," 

52. A poor Egyptian yet. " Yet a servant of the queen of Egypt, 
though soon to become a subject of Rome" (Johnson). Clarke 
explains thus : " I have been hitherto no more than a poor Egyp- 
tian; but at present — now that my queen is bereft of all — I am 
messenger from Cleopatra to Octavius Caesar." 

65. Lfer life in Pome, etc. Her living presence in Rome would 
add eternal glory to our triumph. 

Scene II. — A Room in the Monument. As Malone notes, the 
dramatist has here attempted to exhibit at once the outside and the 
inside of a building. This was possible on the old stage, on account 
of the balcony at the back, in which Cleopatra and her two attend- 
ants would be placed, while the Romans would appear in front 
below. 

3. Knave. Servant. See on iv. 14. 12 above. 

4. And it is great, etc, " The difficulty of the passage, if any 
difficulty there be, arises only from this, that the act of suicide and 



270 Notes [Act V 

the state which is the effect of suicide are confounded. Voluntary 
death, says she, is an act which bolts up change ; it produces a state 
Vhich has no longer need of the gross and terrene sustenance in 
the use of which Caesar and the beggar are on a level" (Johnson).; 
Dung is a " periphrasis for the fruits of the fertilizing earth," used 
contemptuously. Some editors adopt Warburton's conjecture of 
" dug " for dung; but the latter word is " expressive of the speaker's 
bitter disgust of life." Cf. i. i. 35 above: — 

" our dungy earth alike 
Feeds beast as man ; " 

and T. of A. iv. 3. 444 : — 

" the earth 's a thief 
That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen 
From general excrement." 

See also on 280 below. 

21. IVith thanks. That is, with thanksy^r. The ellipsis of tlie 
preposition is not uncommon when it has been already expressed or 
can be readily supplied. See on i. 5. 61 above, and cf. 64 below. 

27. Pray in aid. " A term used for a petition made in a court 
of justice for the calling in of help from another that hath an inter- 
est in the cause in question " (Hanmer). 

29. I send him, etc. I deliver up to him the power he has won. 

42. Languish. Lingering disease or suffering. Ci.R.and/.'i. 
2. 49 : " One desperate grief cures with another's languish." S. 
uses the noun only twice. 

48. Worth many babes and beggars ! " Why, Death, wilt thou 
not rather seize a queen than employ thy force upon babes and 
beggars ! " (Johnson). Temperance = moderation, self-control. 

50. If idle talk zvill once be necessary. A puzzling line. John- 
son explains it : " if it be necessary now for once to waste a 
moment in idle talk of my purpose ; " and Steevens : " if it be 
necessary for once to talk of performing impossibilities." Mr. 
C. J. Monro thinks that the idle talk is to be made necessary, or 



f! 



I 




Scene II] Notes 271 

useful, in keeping her awake. Of these and other interpretations, 
Johnson's is as nearly satisfactory as any. Clarke puts it thus : 
" if it be needful to prate of my intentions." 

54. Chastised. Accented by S. on the penult. Cf. Kick. II. ii. 
3. 104, Macb. i. 5. 26, etc. 

55. Dull Octavia. Mrs. Jameson remarks: "I do not under- 
stand the observation of a late critic [Hazlitt] that in this play 
* Octavia is only a dull foil to Cleopatra.' Cleopatra requires no 
foil, and Octavia is not dull, though in a moment of jealous spleen 
her accomplished rival gives her that epithet. It is possible that 
her beautiful character, if brought more forward and coloured up 
to the historic portrait, would still be eclipsed by the dazzling 
splendour of Cleopatra's ; for so I have seen a flight of fire-works 
blot out for a while the silver moon and ever-burning stars. But 
here the subject of the drama being the love of Antony and Cleo- 
patra, Octavia is very properly kept in the background, and far 
from any competition with her rival ; the interest would otherwise 
have been unpleasantly divided, or rather Cleopatra herself must 
have served but as a foil to the tender, virtuous, dignified, and 
generous Octavia, the very beau ideal of a noble Roman lady — 

" ' whose beauty claims 
No worse a husband than the best of men, 
Whose virtue and whose general graces speak 
That which none else can utter' (ii. 2. 129). 

"The character of Octavia is merely indicated in a few touches, 
but every stroke tells. We see her with 'downcast eyes sedate 
and sweet, and looks demure ' — with her modest tenderness and 
dignified submission — the very antipodes of her rival ! Nor should 
we forget that she has furnished one of the most graceful similes 
in the whole compass of poetry, where her soft equanimity in the 
midst of grief is compared to — 

" ' the swan's down-feather, 
That stands upon the swell at full of tide. 
And neither way inclines ' (iii. 2. 48). 



272 Notes [Act V 

" The fear which seems to haunt the mind of Cleopatra, lest she 
should be ' chastised by the sober eye ' of Octavia, is exceedingly 
characteristic of the two women : it betrays the jealous pride of her 
who was conscious that she had forfeited all real claim to respect; B 
and it places Octavia before us in all the majesty of that virtue 
which could strike a kind of envying and remorseful awe even into 
the bosom of Cleopatra. What would she have thought and felt, 
had some soothsayer foretold to her the fate of her own children, 
whom she so tenderly loved ? Captives, and exposed to the rage 
of the Roman populace, they owed their existence to the generous, 
admirable Octavia, in whose mind there entered no particle of 
littleness. She received into her house the children of Antony and 
Cleopatra, educated them with her own, treated them with truly 
maternal tenderness, and married them nobly." 

59. NaK'd. The folio printing, indicating that the word is 
monosyllabic. The contraction also occurs in Chapman's Homer. 

61. Pyramides. The Latin plural (a quadrisyllable) was some- 
times used for the sake of the measure. Steevens cites, among 
other instances, Doctor Faustus, 1604: "Besides the gates and 
high pyramides ; " and Tamburlaine, 1590: "Like to the shadows 
of pyramides." 

64. Find cause. See on 21 above. 

66. For the queen. As for the queen. 

81. The little O, the earth. S. elsewhere uses O for anything 
round. See M. N. D. iii. 2. 188, L. L. L. v. 2. 45, Hen. V. prol. 
13, and A. and C. v. 2. 81. Cf. Bacon, Essay 37: "And Oes, or 
Spaftgs [spangles], as they are of no great Cost, so they are of 
most Glory." Halliwell-Phillipps notes that the eyes were some- 
times called oes ; as in MS. Bodl. 160: " Frome your oes the teres 
wald starte." 

82. Bestrid. The only form of the past tense and participle of 
bestride in S. Cf./. C. i. 2. 135 : — 

" Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world 
Like a Colossus." 



Scene II] Notes ^ 273 

8^. Crested. An allusion to the familiar use of a raised arm as a 
crest in heraldry. Was propertied as = had the properties of, was 
as musical as. For the allusion to the " music of the spheres," cf. 
A. V. L. ii. 7. 6, r. N. iii. i. 121, M. of V. v. i. 60, etc. 

87. Autunm. The folios have " y^w///o?z)/; " corrected by Theo- 
bald. Corson would retain the old reading, seeing in it an allusion 
to the Greek &.vdo<i or dvddvo/nos, which he strangely thinks could 
mean " a flowering pasturage." 

91. Crownets. Coronets. Cf. iv. 12. 27 above. 

92. Plates. Silver coin (Spanish //«/«). 

98. Vie. Rival, or produce in rivalry. 

99. Were nature'' s piece. " The word piece is a term appropriated 
to works of art. Here Nature and Fancy produce each then piece, 
and the piece done by Nature had the preference. Antony was in 
reality past the size of dreaming ; he was more by nature than 
fancy could present in sleep" (Johnson). For this use of piece, 
cf. W. T. V. 2. 104, V. 3. 38, T. of A. i. I. 28, 25.5, V. i. 21, etc. 
We might explain the word here as = model, masterpiece ; as in 
iii. 2. 28 above. 

103. But I do feel. If I do not feel. Cf. v. I. 27 above. 

121. Project. Shape, form, set forth ; the only instance of the 
verb in S. It is accented on the first syllable, like the noun. 

122. To make. As to make. 

123. Like . . . which. Cf. such . . . which, etc. See on i. 2. 
189 and i. 4. 28 above. 

125. Enforce. Lay stress upon. Cf. ii. 2. 99 above. 

138. Brief Abstract, schedule. Cf. M. N. Z>. v. i. 42 : " There 
is a brief how many sports are ripe," etc. 

140. Not petty things admitted. Trifling things excepted. Theo- 
bald changed adjuitted to " omitted ; " but it seems to me more 
probable that Cleopatra is shrewd enough to leave the door open 
for the excuse she afterwards makes in 165 below. The exposure 
made by Seleucus leads her then to add that she has also reserved 
some nobler token for Livia and Octavia. 

ANTONY — 18 



274 Notes [Act V 

146. Seal. The ist and 2d folios have " seele," and Johnson 
reads "seel;" but that word is elsewhere used only of the eyes 
(cf. ill. 13. 112 above), while to seal the mouth or lips is a common 
figure. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. i. 2. 89, R. and J. v. 3. 216, Lear, iv. 6. 
174, etc. 

150. Your wisdom, " And the Lord commended the unjust 
steward, because he had done wisely" (^Luke, xvi. 8). 

155. Goest thou back? Cf. the modern vulgarism of "going 
back upon " a person. 

163. Parcel the sum, etc. " Add one more parcel or item to 
the sum of my disgraces " (Malone). 

164. Envy. Malice ; as often. Cf. Temp. i. 2. 259, M. of V. 
iv. I. 10, 126, etc. 

166. Im?no7nent. Of no moment, insignificant ; used by S. 
nowhere else. 

167. Modern. Ordinary. Cf. Macb. iv. 3. 170: "A modern 
ecstasy ; " R. and J. iii. 2. 20 : " modern lamentation," etc. 

169. Livia. The wife of Caesar. 

170. Unfolded with. Exposed by. 

174. My chance. My fortune. The figure seems to me a natu- 
ral and expressive one : " or the last smouldering sparks of my 
fiery nature will flame forth through the ashes of my decayed for- 
tune." Hanmer needlessly changes my chance to " mischance ; " 
and Walker conjectures "my change." For chance, see on iii. 
10. 35 above. 

176. Misthought. Misjudged. Cf. 3 i%;z. F/. ii. 5. 108: "Mis- 
think the king." 

178. Merits. Deserts. Cf. Z^ar, iii. 5. 8 : " a provoking merit, 
set a-work l)y a reprovable badness in himself ; " and Id. v. 3. 44 : — 

" As we shall find their merits and our safety 
May equally determine." 

185. Make not your thoughts your prisons. "Do not destroy 
yourself by musing on your misfortune ; be not a prisoner in imagi- 
nation, when really you are free" (Johnson). 



Scene II] Notes 275 

186. Dispose. Dispose of, do with. Cf. Teinp. i. 2. 225, C. of 
E. i. 2. 73, etc. 

191. Words. Platters with words; the only instance of this 
sense in S. 

193. Finish. That is, die ; as she had whispered her purpose 
of doing. Cf. /. C. v. 5. 5 fol. 

196. Put it to the haste. " Make your soonest haste " (iii. 4. 27). 

199. Makes religion. Makes it a sacred obligation. (Zi. A. Y.L. 
iv. I. 201, R. a7id J. i. 2. 93, etc. 

210. Aprons, rules. Cf. J. C i. I. 7: "Where is thy leather 
apron and thy rule? " 

212. Rank of. Rank with. Cf. Cor. iv. 6. 98: "The breath of 
garlic-eaters." 

215. Scald. Scabby, scurvy. Cf. Hen. V.v. 1.5 (see also 31, 
33) : " the rascally, scald, peggarly, lousy, pragging knave," etc. 
Quick = lively, sprightly ; with perhaps the additional idea of 
being prompt to take advantage of a fresh and popular subject. 

216. Ballad us. For the fashion in the poet's day of making 
ballads on current events of note, see 2 //en. /V. iv. 3. 52 and 
W. T. iv. 4. 279. Cf. also Falstaff s threat in i //en. /V. ii. 2. 48. 

217. Extemporally. The word occurs again in V. and A. S^6: 
"sings extemporally." /'r^i'^/z/ = represent ; as in Temp. iv. i. 
167 : "when I presented Ceres," etc. 

220. Boy my greatness. In the time of S. female parts were 
performed by boys or young men. 

226. Absurd. Changed by Theobald to " assur'd." Hudson 
remarks that " there seems to be no reason why absurd should be 
used here, while assured just fits the place ;" but surely if his ijt- 
tents are asstir''d from his point of view, they are absurd kon\ hers, 
for she is going io fool them. In the same vein, after she has done 
this, she calls Caesar an ass unpolicied (307 below). 

229. Sirrah /ras. See on iv. 15. 85 above, 

231. Chare. Task. See on iv. 15. 75 above. 

236. What poor an instrument. For the transposition of the 



276 Notes [Act V 

article, cf. C. of E. iii. 2. 186: "so fair an offered chain ; " Z. L. L. 

i. I. 65 : " too hard a keeping oath," etc. 

238. Placed. Fixed ; as in P. P. 256 : " plac'd without remove." 
240. Marble-constant. Firm as marble. Cf. marble-breasted 

{T. N. V. I. 127), marble-hearted (^Lear, i. 4. 281), etc. 

242. Avoid. Withdraw, depart ; as in Temp. iv. i. 142, C. of E. 
iv. 3. 48, 66, etc. 

243. Worm. Snake. Cf. Cymb. iii. 4. 37 : " Outvenoms all the 
worms of Nile," etc. 

258. Fallible. The ist folio has "falliable," which should per- 
haps be retained as a vulgarism. 

263. Do his kind. Act according to his nature. Cf. A. W. i. 3. 
67: "Your cuckoo sings by kind," etc. Malone quotes Romeus 
and Juliet, 1562 : "For tickle Fortune doth, in changing, but her 
kind." 

281. Now no more, etc. Clarke remarks that this passage con- 
firms the old text in 7 above. " Cleopatra here, in her own gor- 
geously poetical strain, takes leave of the material portion of 
existence, and prepares to enter upon the spiritual portion : she 
has previously condensed the aggregate products of earth — corn, 
wine, oil, fruits, and, indirectly, flesh-meat — into one superbly dis- 
dainful word dung ; and she now figuratively sums them up in one 
draught of grape-juice, as the wine of life, the sustainer of mortal 
being, to which she bids farewell." 

282. Moist. The verb is used by S. only here and in T. G. 
of V. iii. 2. 76. Moisten also occurs only twice in his works : in 
Lear, iv. 3. 33 and R. of L. 1227. 

283. Yare, yare. Quick, quick. See on ii. 2. 213 above. 

289. I am fire and air, etc. Alluding to the old idea that man 
was made up of the four elements. Cf. Hen. V. iii. 7. 23 : " He is 
pure air and fire, and the dull elements of earth and water never 
appear in him." See also Sonn. 44 and 45, where the same idea is 
elaborately developed. 

293. Aspic. Asp. Cf. 0th. iii. 3. 450: "aspics' tongues." 



Scene II] Notes 277 

" Iras must be supposed to have applied an asp to her arm while 
her mistress was settling her dress" (Steevens). 

302. He ''II make demand of her. " He will enquire of her con- 
cerning me, and kiss her for giving him intelligence " (Johnson) ; 
or, perhaps, simply demand a kiss of her. 

303. Mortal. Deadly; as in i. 2. 130 above. Wretch is not 
used contemptuously, but as in 0th. iii. 3. 90, etc. 

304. Intrinsicate. Apparently = intricate ; used by S. oiily here. 
Cf. intrinse in Lear, ii. 2. 81. 

305. Fool. Sometimes used as a term of endearment or pity. 
Cf. A. y. L. ii. I. 22, W. T. ii. i. 18, 3 Heji. VI. ii. 5. 36, etc. 

308. Unpolicied. Devoid of policy, stupid; used by S. only 
here. 

314. Wild. The folios have " wilde " or "wild;" but Capell 
(followed by many editors) took it to be a misprint for vile, which 
is always " vild " or " vilde " in the early eds. As Collier remarks, 
" Charmian might well call the world tvild, desert, and savage, after 
the deaths of Antony, Cleopatra, and others whom she loved." 

316. Windows. Eyelids; as in R. and J. iv. i. 100, Cymb. ii. 
2. 22, etc. 

319. And then play. She is probably thinking of Cleopatra's 
words in 232 above. 

323. BeguiPd. Deceived, cheated ; as in iii. 7. 74 above. 

330. Touch their effects. Are realized. Cf. R. of L. 353 : 
"Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried." 

333. Augur er. See on iv. 12. 4 above. 

335. LeveWd at. Guessed at ; as in M. of V. i. 2. 41 : "level 
at my affection." The metaphor is taken from levelling, or aiming, 
a musket. For its literal use, see Rich. III. iv. 4. 203, Much Ado, 
iv. I. 239, etc. 

346. As. As if. Cf. i. 2. 95 and iv. i. i above. 

348. Something blown. Somewhat swollen. Cf. iv. 6. 34 above. 

353. Her physician tells me, etc. See North, p. 199 above. 
Conclusions = experiments; as in Cymb. i. 5. 18, Ham. iii. 4. 195, 



278 Notes [Act V, Sg. 



1 



etc. Mrs. Jameson remarks : " Although Cleopatra talks of dying 
'after the high Roman fashion,' she fears what she most desires, 
and cannot perform with simplicity what costs her such an effort. 
That extreme physical cowardice, which was so strong a trait in her 
historical character, which led to the defeat of Actium, which made 
her delay the execution of a fatal resolve till she had ' tried con- 
clusions inhnite of easy ways to die,' Shakspeare has rendered with 
the finest possible effect, and in a manner which heightens instead 
of diminishing our respect and interest. Timid by nature, she is 
courageous by the mere force of will, and she lashes herself up with 
high-sounding words into a kind of false daring. Her lively imagi- 
nation suggests every incentive which can spur her on to the deed 
she has resolved, yet trembles to contemplate. She pictures to her- 
self all the degradations which must attend her captivity ; and let 
it be observed that those which she anticipates are precisely such 
as a vain, luxurious, and haughty woman would especially dread, 
and which only true virtue and magnanimity could despise. Cleo- 
patra could have endured the loss of freedom ; but to be led in 
triumph through the streets of Rome is insufferable. She could 
stoop to Caesar with dissembling courtesy, and meet duplicity with 
superior art ; but * to be chastised ' by the scornful or upbraiding 
glance of the injured Octavia — ' rather a ditch in Egypt ! ' " 
358. Clip. Enclose. See on iv. 8. 8 and ii. 7. 72 above. 



II 

Ii 



APPENDIX 

Other Plays on the Same Subject 

Mrs. Jameson remarks that Cleopatra has furnished the subject 
of " two Latin, sixteen French, six English, and at least four Italian 
tragedies," and this by no means exhausts the list.^ Only a few 
of these preceded Shakespeare's play, and (see p. 13 above) he 
does not appear to have been indebted to any of them. 

Jodelle's Cleopdtre Captive, famed as the earliest French tragedy, 
was acted before Henry II in 1542. Garnier's Marc Antoiiie io\- 
lowed in 1578, and after this a long series of Cleopdtres, down to 
Marmontel's in 1750, or Sardou and Moreau's in 1892 (Ward). 
Daniel's Cleopatra (1594) was apparently never acted. The 
Countess of Pembroke's Tragedie of Antoiiie v^?iS •wx\i\.&n in 1590 
and printed in 1595. Mrs. Jameson believes it to be "the first 
instance in our language of original dramatic writing by a female," 
but it was a translation from the French of Garnier. Samuel 
Brandon's 77ie Virtuous Octavia was printed in 1598. A Cleopatra 
Queen of Egypt, by Thomas May, was acted in 1626 and printed 
in 1639. Beaumont and Fletcher's The False One (in which some 
believe that Massinger had a share), printed in 1647, deals with the 
early history of the Egyptian queen and her amour with Julius 
Ceesar. In 1677 Sir Charles Sedley produced an Antony and 
Cleopatra, in which Betterton took the part of Antony. 

All these plays are of little interest in comparison with Dryden's 
All for Love, or the World Well Lost (1778), the title page of 

1 A German Cleopatra, by Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein, appeared 
as early as 1661. 

279 



2 8o Appendix 

which states that it was "Written in Imitation of Shakespeare's 
Stile." The author regarded it as his liighest dramatic achieve- 
ment, and attributed its success in part to his study of his great 
predecessor. In the preface he says : " In my stile I have pro- 
fessed to imitate the divine Shakespeare : which that I might per- 
form more freely I have disencumbered myself from rhyme. Not 
that I condemn my former way, but that this is more proper to my 
present purpose. I hope I need not to explain myself that I have 
not copy'd my author servilely. Words and phrases must of neces- 
sity receive a change in succeeding ages, but 't is almost a miracle 
that much of his language remains so pure ; and that he who 
began Dramatick poetry amongst us, untaught by any, and, as Ben 
Jonson tells us, without learning, should by the force of his own 
genius perform so much that in a manner he has left no praise for 
any who come after him. The occasion is fair, and the subject 
would be pleasant to handle the difference of stiles betwixt him 
and Fletcher, and wherein, and how far they are both to be imi- 
tated. But since I must not be over-confident of my own perform- 
ance after him, it will be prudence in me to be silent. Yet I hope 
I may affirm, and without vanity, that by imitating him, I have 
excell'd myself throughout the play ; and particularly, that I prefer 
the scene betwixt Anthony and Ventidius in the first act to any- 
thing which I have written in this kind." 

Dryden's verdict upon his All for Love has been generally ac- 
cepted as just. The critics quite unanimously agree that it is his 
best play. The author himself says that it is the only one he 
wrote for himself; the rest were given to the people. Ward, in his 
History of English Dramatic Literature (1899), says of it: ^^ All 
for Love may be almost described as a trial of strength, not only 
against Shakespeare, but against many of the chief wits of the 
nation before and after Shakespeare. Dryden's complacency in 
the result is not wholly unjustified. In a sense his tragedy is 
original ; the character of Antony is drawn with considerable 
skill ; the dominion which passion^ is capable of acquiring over a 




Appendix 281 

human being is, I think, exhibited quite as effectively as it is in 
Shakespeare, but Dryden's Antony lacks elevation. His Cleo- 
patra is comparatively uninteresting. The writing maintains a 
high level throughout ; and the scene to which the author directs 
special attention is undoubtedly admirable. The construction of 
the play is close and effective, and its general tone is sufficiently 
moderated without becoming open to the charge of tameness. . . . 
He cannot be said to rival Shakespeare on his own ground, but he 
follows him on it without making himself guilty of servile imita- 
tion or breaking down from lack of original force. All for Love 
has been not unjustly designated by an eminent critic [Mr. Leslie 
Stephen] as 'Dryden's finest play.' " 

Campbell the poet, in his comments on Shakespeare's play, com- 
pares it with Dryden's thus : — 

" If I were to select any historical play of Shakespeare, in which 
he has combined an almost literal fidelity to history with an equal 
faithful adherence to the truth of nature, and in which he super- 
induces the merit of skilful dramatic management, it would be the 
above play. In his portraiture of Antony there is, perhaps, a flat- 
tered likeness of the original by Plutarch ; but the similitude loses 
little of its strength by Shakespeare's softening and keeping in the 
shade his traits of cruelty. In Cleopatra, we can discern nothing 
materially different from the vouched historical sorceress ; she 
nevertheless has a more vivid meteoric and versatile play of en- 
chantment in Shakespeare's likeness of her than in a dozen of 
other poetical copies in which the artists took much greater liberties 
with historical truth : he paints her as if the gypsy herself had cast 
her spell over him, and given her own witchcraft to his pencil. 

"At the same time, playfully interesting to our fancy as he 
makes this enchantress, he keeps us far from a vicious sympathy. 
The asp at her bosom, that lulls its nurse asleep, has no poison for 
our morality. A single glance at the devoted and dignified Octavia 
recalls our homage to virtue ; but with delicate skill he withholds 
the purer woman from prominent contact with the wanton queen, 



2 82 Appendix 



^^^■1 



and does not, like Dryden, bring the two to a scolding-match. 
The latter poet's All for Love was regarded by himself as his 
masterpiece, and is by no means devoid of merit ; but so inferior is 
it to the prior drama as to make it disgraceful to British taste for 
one hundred years that the former absolutely banished the latter 
from the stage. A French critic calls Great Britain the island 
of Shakespeare's idolaters ; yet so it happens, in this same island, 
that Dryden's All for Love has been acted ten times oftener than 
Shakespeare's Anlony and Cleopatra. 

" Dryden's Marc Antony is a weak voluptuary from first to last. 
Not a sentence of manly virtue is ever uttered by him that seems 
to come from himself ; and whenever he expresses a moral feeling, 
it appears not to have grown up in his own nature, but to have 
been planted there by the influence of his friend Ventidius, like a 
flower in a child's garden, only to wither and take no root. Shake- 
speare's Antony is a very different being. When he hears of the 
death of his first wife, Fulvia, his exclamation, 'There's a great 
spirit gone ! ' and his reflections on his own enthralment by Cleo- 
patra mark the residue of a noble mind. A queen, a siren, a 
Shakespeare's Cleopatra alone could have entangled Mark Antony, 
while an ordinary wanton could have enslaved Dryden's hero." 

Walter Scott, in his edition of Dryden's works, compares All for 
Love with Shakespeare's play, and gives the former the credit of 
greater " simplicity and concentration of plot " and a " more artful 
arrangement of the story." " But," he adds, " after having given 
Dryden the praise of superior address in managing the story, I fear 
he must be pronounced in most other respects inferior to his great 
prototype. Antony, the principal character in both plays, is in- 
comparably grander in that of Shakespeare. The majesty and gen- 
erosity of the military hero is happily expressed by both poets ; but 
the awful ruin of grandeur, undermined by passion and tottering to 
its fall, is far more striking in the Antony of Shakespeare. Love, 
it is true, is the predominant, but it is not the sole ingredient in 
his character. It has usurped possession of his mind, but is assailed 



Appendix 283 

by his original passions, ambition of power and thirst for military 
fame. He is therefore often, and it should seem naturally, repre- 
sented as feeling for the downfall of his glory and power even so 
intensely as to withdraw his thoughts from Cleopatra, unless con- 
sidered as the cause of his ruin. . . . But Dryden has taken a dif- 
ferent view of Antony's character, and more closely approaching to 
his title of All for Love. ' He seems not now that awful Antony.' 
His whole thoughts and being are dedicated to his fatal passion, 
and though a spark of resentment is occasionally struck out by the 
reproaches of Ventidius, he instantly relapses into lovesick melan- 
choly. . . . Antony is, throughout the piece, what the author 
meant him to be, — a victim to the omnipotence of love, or rather, 
to the infatuation of one engrossing passion. 

" In the Cleopatra of Dryden there is greatly less spirit and origi- 
nality than in Shakespeare's. The preparation of the latter for 
death has a grandeur which puts to shame the same scene in Dry- 
den, and serves to support the interest during the whole fifth act, 
although Antony has died in the conclusion of the fourth. No 
circumstance can more highly evince the power of Shakespeare's 
genius, in spite of his irregularities ; since the conclusion in Dry- 
den, where both lovers die in the same scene, and after a recon- 
ciliation, is infinitely more artful and better adapted to theatrical 
effect. . . . 

" The Octavia of Dryden is a much more important personage 
than in the Antony and Cleopatra of Shakespeare. She is, however, 
more cold and unamiable ; for in the very short scenes in which 
the Octavia of Shakespeare appears, she is placed in rather an in- 
teresting point of view. But Dryden has himself informed us that 
he was apprehensive the justice of a wife's claim upon her husband 
would draw the audience to her side, and lessen their interest in 
the lover. . . . Her scolding scene with Cleopatra, though anx- 
iously justified by the author in the preface, seems too coarse to be 
in character, and is a glaring exception to the general good taste 
evinced throughout the rest of the piece. " 



284 Appendix 

James Russell Lowell, in his paper on Dryden, says : " Except in 
All for Love there is no trace of real passion in any of his tragedies. 
This, indeed, is inevitable, for there are no characters, but only 
personages in any except that. That is, in many respects, a noble 
play, and there are few finer scenes, whether in the conception or 
the carrying out, than that between Antony and Ventidius in the 
first act." 1 

As an illustration of " that ripened sweetness of thought and 
language which marks the natural vein of Dryden," the same critic 
quotes the following from All for Love : — 

" Gone so soon ! 
Is Death no more ? He us'd him carelessly, 
With a familiar kindness ; ere he knock'd, 
Ran to the door and took him in his arms, 
As who should say, ' You're welcome at all- hours, 
A friend need give no warning.' " 

Lowell adds : " With one more extract from the same play, which 
is in every way his best, for he had, when he wrote it, been feeding 
on the bee-bread of Shakespeare, I shall conclude. Antony 
says : — 

" ' For I am now so sunk from what I was 

Thou find'st me at my lowest water-mark. 

The rivers that ran in and rais'd my fortunes 

Are all dried up, or take another course. 

What I have left is from my native spring ; 

I've a heart still that swells in scorn of Fate, 

And lifts me to my banks.' 

This is certainly, from beginning to end, in what used to be called 
the grand style, at once noble and natural." 

1 Voltaire, writing to M. de Fromant, says : " II y a seulement la 
sc6ne de Ventidius et 6!Antoine qui est digne de Corneille." 



II 



Appendix 285 



The Time-analysis of the Play 

I give below the summing-up of Mr. P. A. Daniel's "time-analy- 
sis " in his valuable paper " On the Times or Durations of the 
Action of Shakspere's Plays" (^Trans. of New Shaks. Soc. iSjy- 
79, p. 237), vi'ith some explanatory extracts from the preceding 
pages inserted or appended : — 

Time of the Play, tvi^elve days represented on the stage ; w^ith 
intervals. 

Day I. Act I. sc. i.-iv. 

Interval, [In Act I. sc. v. Alexas brings a message and 
a present of a pearl to Cleopatra from Antony. On his journey he 
has met " twenty several messengers " sent by the Queen to Antony, 
and she says, " He shall have every day a several greeting." We 
may suppose then an interval of some twenty days between Days i 
and 2.] 

Day 2. Act I. sc. v., Act II. sc. i.-iii. [The first lines of Act 
II. sc. iii. must represent the termination of the meeting proposed 
in the preceding scene. At the end of it Antony bids Octavia and 
Caesar good night, and she and Caesar evidently go out together; 
though the only stage direction is " Exit." We are, then, clearly 
in Antony's first day in Rome; yet his conversation with the Sooth- 
sayer, who now enters, would suppose the lapse of some time since 
his arrival. . . . The fact is, distant times are brought together in 
this scene, as in many other places of the drama.] 

Day 3. Act II. sc. iv. 

Interval [time fov the news of Antony's marriage to 
reach Alexandria ; and for the Triumvirs to meet with Pompey 
near Misenum]. 

Day 4. Act II. sc. v.-vii. [Act III. sc. iii.]. 

Interval? [time for the Triumvirs to return to Rome]. 

Day 5. Act III. sc. i. and ii. [The opening lines of this latter 
scene annihilate time and space. Dramatically Misenum and Rome 



2 86 Appendix 

become one. The treaty with Pompey concluded at Misenum 
comes a Roman business ; and the interval I have marked between 
this and the preceding act is of dubious propriety. It becomes 
still more so if we include in Day 5 the following scene, which cer- 
tainly cannot be later than the morrow of Act II. sc. v.] 
[Act III. sc. iii.i See Day 4.] 
Interval [much wanted historically]. 

Day 6. Act III. sc. iv. and v. 

Interval [Octavia's journey from Athens to Rome]. 

Day 7. Act III. sc. vi. 
Interval. 

Day 8. Act III. sc. vii. 

Day 9. Act III. sc. viii.-x. 
Interval. 

Day 10. Act. III. sc. xi.-xiii., Act IV. sc. i.-iii. 

Day II. Act IV. sc. iv.-ix. 

Day 12. Act IV. sc. x.-xv., Act V. sc. i. and ii. [Much of the 
business of this latter scene — not easily to be gathered from the 
drama itself — is derived by the editors from Plutarch's history of 
Mark Antony, on which the play is founded. I am in some doubt 
whether a separate day, the morrow of Day 12, should not be 
marked for the last two scenes. Historically, of course, some time 
elapsed between the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra ; but all these 
scenes from Act IV. sc. x. to the end of the play are dramatically 
so closely connected that, in the absence of any specific note of 
time which would justify this division, I have deemed it best to 
include them all in one day, the last.] 

Historic time, about ten years ; B.C. 40 to B.C. 30. 

1 " Time is so shuffled in these scenes that it is extremely difficult to 
make out any consistent scheme ; on the whole, I incline to transfer this 
scene to Day 4, and accordingly place it within brackets. It might fol- 
low, in stage representation, sc. vi. and vii. of Act II., or, better perhaps, 
come between them, thus affording variety to the audience and an 
equal distribution of repose and action to the players." 



Appendix 287 



List of Characters in the Play 

The numbers in parentheses indicate the lines the characters 
have in each scene. 

Antony: i. 1(25), 2(59), 3(47) ; ii. 2(86), 3(25), 6(16), 7(28) ; 
iii. 2(19), 4(25), 7(21), 9(4), 11(58), 13(110); iv. 2(41), 4(31), 
5(iO. 7(5)»8(37), 10(9), 12(43), 14(106), 15(23). Whole no. 
829. 

C^jar.- 1.4(62); 11. 2(56), 3(1), 6(16), 7(15); iii. 2(21), 6(83), 
8(5), 12(22); iv. 1(13), 6(10), 11(4); V. 1(54), 2(58). Whole 
no. 420. 

Lepidus : 1. 4(15); H. 2(27), 4(8), 6(6), 7(12); iii. 2(2). 
Whole no. 70. 

Pompey : 11. 1(42), 6(64), 7(30). Whole no. 136. 

Enobarbus : 1. 2(47); 11. 2(79), 6(44), 7(18); 111. 2(22), 5(9), 
7(30), 10(15), 13(44); iv. 2(11), 6(20), 9(17). Whole no. 
356. 

Ventidius : ill. 1(30). Whole no. 30. 

Eros : ill. 5(18), 11(8); iv. 4(1), 5(2), 7(2), 14(18). Whole 
no. 49. 

Scarus : ill. 10(21); iv. 7(11), io(i), 12(7). Whole no. 40. 

Dercetas : iv. 14(4); v. 1(17). Whole no. 21. 

Demetritis : 1. 1(5). Whole no. 5. 

Philo : i. 1(16). Whole no. 16. 

McBcenas : li. 2(17), 4(4); iii. 6(10); iv. 1(5); v. 1(4). 
Whole no. 40. 

Agrippa: li. 2(30), 4(3); 111. 2(13), 6(5); iv. 6(1), 7(3); v. 
1(6). Whole no. 61. 

Dolabella : ill. 12(5); v. i(i), 2(42). Whole no. 48. 

Proculeius : v. 1(1), 2(31). Whole no. 32. 

Thyreus : ill. 12(2), 13(29). Whole no. 31. 

G alius : v. 2(2). Whole no. 2. 



288 Appendix 

Menas : ii. i(8), 6(27), 7(33). Whole no. 68. 

Menecrates : ii. 1(6). Whole no. 6. 

Varrius : ii. 1(4). Whole no. 4. 

Taurus : iii. 8(1). Whole no. i. 

Canidius : iii. 7(16), 10(9). Whole no. 25. 

Silius : iii. i(ii). Whole no. 11. 

Euphronius : iii. 12(14), 13(2). Whole no. 16. 

A lex as : i. 2(11), 5(17); iii. 3(4). Whole no. 32. 

Mardian : i. 5(6); ii. 5(1); iv. 14(12). Whole no. 19. 

Seleucus : v. 2(5). Whole no. 5. 

Diomedes : iv. 14(16), 15(3). Whole no. 19. 

Soothsayer : i. 2(13); ii. 3(19). Whole no. 32. 

Cloivn : V. 2(31). Whole no. 31. 

\ St Attendant : i. i(i),2(i); ii. 5(1); iii. 13(3). Whole no. 6. 

id Attendant : i. 2(1). Whole no. i. 

\st Messenger : i. 2(15), 4(16); ii. 5(25); iii. 3(18), 7(3); iv. 
6(2). Whole no. 79. 

2d Messenger : i. 2(4). Whole no. 4. 

1st Servant : ii. 7(11)- Whole no. ii. 

2d Servant : ii. 7(8). Whole no. 8. 

1st Soldier: iii. 7(13); iv. 3(12), 4(3), 5(12), 6(10), 9(13)- 
Whole no. 63. 

2d Soldier : iv. 3(8), 9(7). Whole no. 15. 

^d Soldier : iv. 3(6), 9(7). Whole no. 13. 

4//z Soldier : iv. 3(5). Whole no. 5. 

1st Guard: iv. 14(5); v. 2(18). Whole no. 23. 

2d Guard: iv. 14(2); v. 2(2). Whole no. 4. 

2,d Guard : iv. 14(1). Whole no. I. 

Egyptian: v. 1(6). Whole no. 6. 

Captain: iv. 4(1). Whole no. I. 

Boy: ii. 7(6). Whole no. 6. 

Cleopatra: i. 1(21), 2(6), 3(70), 5(60); ii. 5(106); iii. 3(34), 
7(15), 11(8), 13(46); iv. 2(2), 4(9), 8(5), 12(1), 13(8), 15(68); 
V. 2(211). Whole no. 670. 



Appendix 289 

Odavia: ii. liS)'-> i"- 2(3), 4(16), 6(14). Whole no. 36. 

Char?niati: i. 2(43), 3(8), 5(8); ii. 5(10); iii. 3(9), 11(2); 
iv. 4(1), 13(4), 15(5); V. 2(19). Whole no. 109. 

Iras: i. 2(15); iii. 11(4); iv. 15(4); v. 2(7). Whole no. 30. 

'M//": iii. ii(i); iv. 2(1), 3(3), 4(1), 14(2), 15(1); V. 1(1), 
2(2). Whole no. 12. 

In the above enumeration, parts of lines are counted as whole 
lines, making the total in the play greater than it is. The actual 
number of lines in each scene (Globe edition numbering) is as fol- 
lows: i. 1(62), 2(204), 3(i05)» 4(84)* 5(78); "• 1(52), 2(250), 
3(42), 4(10), 5(119), 6(i45)» 7(141); iii- 1(37)' 2(66), 3(51), 
4(38), 5(25), 6(98), 7(81), 8(6), 9(4), 10(37), 11(74), 12(36), 
13(201); iv. 1(16), 2(45), 3(23), 4(38), 5(17), 6(39), 7(16), 

8(39), 9(35), 10(9), "(4), 12(49), 13(10), 14(140), 15(91); V. 
1(77), 2(369). Whole number in the play, 3063. This play con- 
tains 42 scenes — more than any other in S. Coriolanus comes 
next with 29 scenes, and Macbeth next with 28. On the other 
hand. Lovers Labour's Lost and The Tempest have only 9 each, 
and The Comedy of Errors only 11. 

Cleopatra has more lines than any other female character in the 
plays except Rosalind, who has 749 lines. Imogen comes next, 
with 596 lines ; then Portia (in M. of V.) with 589, 3ind /uliet with 
541. These are the only women in Shakespeare that have more 
than 500 lines. Some prominent ones come at the other end of the 
list: Lady Macbeth (261 lines), Katherine the Shrew (220), Her- 
mione (211), Miranda (142), Cordelia (115), Portia (in_/. C), 95. 



ANTONY — 19 



INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES 
EXPLAINED 



abode (= abiding), 217 

about, 234 

abstract of all faults, 222 

absurd, 275 

abused (= deceived), 193 

afeard, 235 

affect (= like) , 220 

all to nought, 234 

all-obeying, 254 

alms-drink, 240 

an (transposed), 275 

anchor his aspect, 224 

angle (= fishing-line), 234 

Antoniad, 250 

appeach, 207 

appeal (= impeachment), 

247 
approof, 244 
approve (= prove), 214 
April in her eyes, 245 
Arabian bird, 244 
are you thereabouts ? 251 
argument (= proof), 253 
arm-gaunt, 225 
art not what thou 'rt sure 

of, 236 
as (=as if), 215, 255,257, 

259. 277 
as (conjunction of remin- 
der), 222 
as (omitted), 273 
Asia (trisyllable), 216 
aspect (accent), 224 
aspic, 276 
at heel of, 230 
at the last, best, 220 
atone (= reconcile) , 229 
attend (= wait for) , 251 
augurers, 262, 277 
avoid (= depart), 276 
ay me ! 248 

ballad us, 275 
band (= bond), 244 
banquet (=dessert), 239 
Basan, the hill of, 255 



battery from my heart, 

264 
battle (=army), 250 
beastly (adverb), 225 
becked, 262 

become themselves, 232 
becomed, 249 
becomes his flaw. 253 
becomings, 221 
beguiled (=deceived) , 277 
belike, 214, 257 
bends, 230 
bestrid, 272 
bewrayed, 205 
billiards, 234 
blown, 258 
blows my heart, 259 
blubbering, 208 
boar of Thessaly, 263 
bolts up change, 270 
bond, 224 

boot thee with, 235 
boxed (= beat) , 208 
boy my greatness, 275 
bravery (=show), 197 
breather, 246 
brief (= abstract) , 273 
brize, 251 
brooched, 266 
brows' bent, 219 
burgonet, 224 
but (=if not), 268, 273 
but (= unless), 252, 262 
but for vacancy, 232 
by revolution lowering, 

216 

Caesarion, 256 

caitiff (= wretched) , 208 

call on him, 223 

cantle, 250 

carbuncled like Phoebus' 

car, 260 
carects, 198 
careful (= industrious) , 

199 

291 



carriage (= cargo) , 199 
carriage of his chafe, 221 
carries (= has a range), 

250 
case, 268 

cast (= compute), 244 
cement (accent), 244 
certain (noun), 189 
chance (= fortune), 251, 

274 
chares, 267, 275 
charm (= charmer) , 262 
chastised (accent), 271 
check (= reproof), 258 
chuck (= chick), 258 
circle (= crown), 253 
cithernes, 184 
clean (= pure) , 202 
clip (= embrace) , 260, 278 
cloth-of-gold of tissue, 230 
cloud in his face, 245 
clouts about their heads, 

259 

cloyless, 226 

colour (= pretext), 219 

come thee, 259 

comes deared, 223 

comparisons, 254 

competitor (= associate), 
222, 241 

compose (= agree), 227 

composure (= composi- 
tion), 222 

conclusion, still, 266 

conclusions (= experi- 
ments), 277 

condemned (accent), 219 

confound (= consume), 
213, 223 

confound (= destroy) , 245 

considerate (= discreet), 
229 

comment (= container), 
264 

conversation (= behav- 
iour), 239 



292 



Index of Words and Phrases 



cop- tank, 194 
corrigible, 265 
could (= would fain), 217 
course (= follow) , 254 
courser's hair, 218 
court of guard, 260 
crack (= break), 264 
cranewes, 207 
crested, 273 
crownet, 262, 273 
cunning (= skill) , 234 
curious (= careful) , 245 
curstness, 227 
cuts (= lots), 189 

daff, 258 

danger (verb), 218 

dare (noun), 218 

darkens, 243 

darkling, 266 

dealt on lieutenantry, 252 

deared, 223 

dear'st, 248 

death and honour, 257 

declined, 254 

defeat (= destroy), 265 

defend (= forbid), 246 

demi-Atlas, 224 

demon (= genius), 233 

demurely, 261 

demuring, 266 

denounced (= declared), 

249 
determines (= comes to 

an end), 256 
die the death, 264 
diminutives, 263 
disaster (verb), 240 
discandying, 256, 262 
discontents (noun), 223 
disgested, 230 
disguise (= intoxication) , 

242 
dislimns, 265 
disponge, 261 
dispose (= dispose of) , 

275 
disposed (= made terms), 

266 
distractions, 250 
divine of, 239 
do disquiet, 228 
do his kind, 277 
doth (plural?), 216 
doughty-handed, 259 
drave, 215 



drew cuts, 189 
drink carouses, 260 
droven, 259 
dull Octavia, 271 
dumbed, 225 
dung, 270 
dungy earth, 213 

ear (= plough) , 223 
earing (= tilling) , 216 
earn our chronicle, 256 
earns a place i' the story, 

254 

ebbed (active), 223 

e'en a woman, 267 

Egypt (= the queen of 
Egypt), 225 

Egypt's widow, 226 

elder (= superior) , 251 

elements, 276 

embattle, 261 

embossed, 263 

end (= put an end to), 
252, 264 

enforce (= urge) , 229, 273 

enow, 190, 222 

enter me with him, 265 

entertainment, 258 

envy (= malice) , 274 

Epicurean (accent), 226 

estridge, 256 

Euphrates (accent), 216 

exigent (noun), 265 

expedience (= expedi- 
tion), 217 

extemporally, 275 

extended (= seized), 215 

eyne, 242 

fairy (= enchantress) , 260 
fall (= befall), 249 
fall (transitive), 253 
fame (= report) , 230 
fast and loose, 262 
fats (=vats), 242 
favour (=face), 235 
fear (= frighten), 237 
fear (personified), 233 
feature, 236 
feeders, 255 
fervency, 234 
fetch him in, 257 
finish (= die), 275 
flaw (= misfortune), 253 
fleet (= float), 256 
flush youth, 223 



foison, 240 

fond (= foolish) , 186 

fool (in pity) , 277 

for (= as for), 195 

for my bond, 224 

for that (= because) , 249 

for that (= nevertheless) , 

229 
forgotten (active), 221 
formal (= ordinary), 235 
forspoke, 248 
found (= discovered), 187 
from (= away from), 237 
from his teeth, 246 
front (= face) , 224, 228 
frustrate (trisyllable), 268 
fugitive (= deserter), 261 
fullest (man), 255 

garboils, 220, 228 
gard (= edging), 199 
garland of the war, 267 
gaudy (= festive), 256 
gentle (vocative), 267 
gests, 259 
ghosted, 237 
gilded (with scum), 224 
give (= represent), 223 
give me grace, 255 
give off, 258 
go on wheels, 241 
goest thou back? 274 
good now, 214, 220 
got upon me, 265 
grants (= affords), 243 
grates me, 213 
grave (= deadly) , 262 
great medicine, 225 
greed (= agreed) , 236 
griefs (= grievances), 229 
gypsy, 212 

H (play upon), 259 

hairs, 242 

harried, 246 

heat my liver, 214 

heaviness (play upon), 

267 
held my cap off, 241 
Herculean, 220 
Herod, 214, 245 
high-battled, 254 
him (= he), 243 
his (=its), 253, 269 
ho, ho, ho! 257 
hoising, 198 



I 



Index of Words and Phrases 



293 



holding (of song), 242 

homager, 213 

home (adverb), 216 

hoo! 244 

hoop (figurative), 229 

hope (= expect), 226 

hope of, 215 

how intend you? 227 

howboys, 184 

huswife Fortune, 267 

idle talk, 270 

immoment, 274 

imperious (= imperial), 
266 

import, 229 

importune (accent), 266 

in deputation, 254 

in (= in for it), 241 

in (= into), 224 

in negligent danger, 248 

in use, 219 

inclips, 241 

ingrossed by swift im- 
press, 249 

inhooped, 234 

injurious (= malignant) , 
267 

instance (= urgency) , 192 

intrinsicate, 277 

it own, 241 

Jack, 255 

jaded, 243 

jointing (= joining), 215 

jump (= hazard), 250 

kept my square, 232 
kind (= nature), 277 
knave (= servant), 264, 

269 
known (= known each 

other), 239 

lack blood to think on 't, 

223 
Lamprias, 214 
languish (noun), 270 
lanked, 224 
lated, 251 

launch (= lance), 269 
left unloved, 247 
length, 264 
Lethe'd, 226 
levelled at, 277 
Lichas, 263 



lift (= lifted), 204 

lipped, 235 

liver (seat of love), 214 

Livia, 274 

lo thee! 265 

loathness, 252 

loden, 199 

loofed, 251 

loud (=in high words), 

227 
Love (= Venus), 213 
luxuriously, 255 

made no fault, 235 
made their bends adorn- 

ings, 231 
make better note, 246 
make boot of, 257 
make too great an act, 

243 . . 
makes religion, 275 
mallard, 251 
mandragora, 224 
mankind (accent), 260 
many our contriving 

friends, 218 
marble-constant, 276 
matter (= subject), 227 
me (=1), 245 
mean (= means), 189, 244 
mechanic (= vulgar), 258 
meetly, 220 

merchandise (plural), 236 
mered question, 254 
merely (^= entirely) , 249 
merits (= deserts), 274 
middest, iq8 
mingle (noun), 225 
missive (= messenger), 

229 
misthought, 274 
mistress (trisyllable), 235 
mocks the pauses, 268 
Modena (accent) , 224 
modern (= ordinary), 274 
moe, 264 

moist (verb), 276 
monster-like, 263 
moody (= sad) , 234 
more larger, 248 
more urgent touches, 217 
mortal (= deadly), 276 
most (= utmost) , 230 
motion (=mind), 233 
Mount (= Misenum), 230 
much unequal, 236 



muleters, 249 
muss, 255 

naked (= unarmed), 204 
nak'd, 272 
Narcissus, 236 
nature's piece, 273 
naught (= worthless), 268 
negligent danger, 248 
Nessus, 263 
never (= not), 176 
news (number), 213 
nice (= dainty), 256 
nicked, 253 
no such thing, 246 
noble (adverb), 229 
noises it, 248 
not (transposed), 225,227 
not petty things admitted, 

273 
number (verb), 244 

O (= the earth), 272 
oblivion (subjective), 221 
observance, 246 
obstruct (noun), 248 
occasion (= need), 239 
odds (number), 267 
o'ercount (play upon), 237 
of (=for), 229 
of (= with), 275 
office, 212 
oily palm, 215 
onion-eyed, 217, 257 
only (= sole) , 184 
only (transposed), 230, 

263 
orbs (= spheres), 256 
ordinary (= meal), 232 
owe (=own), 260, 266 

pace (= break in), 228 
packed cards, 264 
Pacorus, 243 
pageants, 263 
pales, 241 
palled, 241 
palter, 253 
paragon (verb), 225 
parcel (verb), 274 
part (= depart), 217 
particular, 219, 261 
partisan (= halberd), 240 
patch a quarrel, 228 
penetrative, 265 
perforce, 269 



294 Index of Words and Phrases 



period (=end), 257, 265 

persisted, 268 

pestered, 184 

petition us at home, 218 

Philippan, 234 

piece (=masterpiece) 244 

pinch by the disposition, 

240 
pink eyne, 242 
placed (= fixed), 276 
plants (play upon), 240 
•plated, 212 

plates (= silver coin) , 273 
pleached, 265 
plebeians (accent), 2 '2 
points (= lacings), 256 
port (=gate), 219, 258 
possess it, 242 
possess you, 252 
post (= posted), 185 
power (=army), 249 
power (= bodily organ), 

253 
power unto, 229 
practised (= plotted) , 227 
pray in aid, 270 
pray ye, sir? 239 
precedence, 235 
pregnant (= probable), 

227 
prepared (nails), 263 
prescript, 250 
present (= represent) , 275 
presently, 187, 246 
prest (= impress), 197 
pretty (= minute), 21T 
process (= summons), 213 
project (= shape), 273 
proof of harness, 260 
proper (= nice) , 246 
propertied as, 273 
prorogue, 226 
prosecution (= pursuit), 

265 
prove (= test) , 200 
Ptolemy, 222 
purchased (= acquired), 

222 
purge, 219 

put it to the haste, 275 
pyramides, 272 
pyramises, 241 

quails, 234 

quality (= disposition) , 
218 



queasy with, 247 
quick (= lively), 275 
quicken (= revive), 267 
quietness, 267 
quit (= requite), 255 

race of heaven, 219 

rack, 264 

ranged, 213 

ranges (noun), 253 

rank of, 275 

rates (= is worth), 253 

raught, 261 

record (accent), 261 

reel the streets, 222 

reels (noun), 242 

regiment (= rule), 248 

remarkable, 267 

rendered (= gave up) , 264 

reneges, 212 

reports (= reporters), 228 

reputation (metre), 252 

requires (= requests) , 253 

revolted, 261 

rheum, 245 

ribaudred, 251 

riggish, 232 

right (=very), 262 

rivality, 247 

safe (verb), 219, 259 

salt (= wanton), 226 

sap in't, 256 

scald (adjective), 275 

scotches, 259 

seal (figurative), 264 

seel (= blind), 255, 274 

self (=same), 210, 268 

semblable, 246 

set up his rest, 203 

several (= separate) , 225 

shall (= will), 224 

shards, 244 

she (=her), 255 

show (= appear) , 259 

showed (participle), 234 

shrewd (= evil) , 261 

shroud (= shelter) , 254 

sides of nature, 218 

sides o' the world, 218 

signs well, 257 

since (with past tense), 

218 
sirrah (feminine) , 268, 275 
sirs (feminine), 268 
sith, 204 



sithence, 209 

sits (of the wind), 251 

skreeked, 207 

so (= if ), 220 

soils (= stains), 222 

soldier's pole, 267 

something (adverb), 260, 

277 
sottish (= stupid), 268 
space (=time), 226 
spanielled, 262 
speeds (= prospers), 234 
sphere, 266 

spirit (monosyllable), 228 
splitted, 268 
sport (ironical) , 266 
square (=just), 230 
square (= quarrel), 227, 

254 
squares (= squadrons) , 

252 
stablishment, 247 
staged, 254 
stain (= eclipse) , 246 
stale (= urine), 224 
stale (verb), 232 
stall (= dwell) , 269 
stands our lives upon, 

227 
station, 246 

stays upon your will, 216 
steer humanity, 269 
still conclusion, 266 
stinted (= ceased), 205 
stomach (= disposition), 

228 
stomach (= resent), 246 
stomaching, 227 
straighter (= stricter), 

189 
strike the vessels, 242 
stroyed, 252 
subscribe, 258 
success (= issue), 247 
such . . . that, 223 
such whose, 218 
suffer (= suffer loss), 254 
sweep your way, 252 
swell, 232 
sworder, 254 
synod, 250 

table (= tablet) , 210 
tabourines, 260 
tackle, 231 
take all, 257 



Index of Words and Phrases 



295 



take in (= subdue), 213, 

249. 255 
tall (= stout), 237 
targes, 238 
tawny front, 212 
Telamon for his shield, 

263 
temperance (= chastity), 

255 

temperance (= self-con- 
trol), 270 

tended her i' the eyes, 
231 

that thy spirit, 233 

thee (= thou), 259 

Thetis, 249 

thick, 225 

thickens (= grows dim) , 

233 
think, and die, 253 
thought (= sorrow), 259 
three-nooked world, 259 
thrived (participle), 219 
throes forth, 250 
Thyreus, 253 
tidings (number), 265, 

268 
ties his points, 256 
tight (= handy), 258 
timelier. 238 ^ 
tires (noun), 234 
't is (contemptuous), 243 
't is easy to 't, 251 
to (= for) , 229 
to (omitted), 256 
to my sister's view, 230 
to weet, 213 
tokened, 250 
took (participle), 258 
top of all design, 269 
touch their effects, 277 



touches, 217 

toward (=in prepara- 
tion), 239 
treaties, 252 
triple (= third), 212 
triple-turned, 262 
trised, 205, 207 
triumphing (accent), 260 
triumvirate, 195 
troth (= truth), 192, 211 
true (= honest), 239 
trull, 248 
trussed, 205 

unfolded with, 274 
unhair, 235 
unnoble, 252 
unpolicied, 276 
unqualitied, 252 
unstate, 254 
up (= shut up), 247 
upon poorer moment, 217 
upon the river, 230 
uprise, 262 

urge me in his act, 228 
use (= are accustomed), 

235. 249 
use (= trust), 219 
useful (adverb), 265 

vacancy, 232 
vessels (= casks), 242 
vials (for tears), 220 
vie (= rival) , 273 
virtue (= valour), 260 

waged, 268 

wailed (= bewailed), 245 
waned (= faded) , 226 
warded (= guarded), 210 
wassails, 223 



weet, 213 

well (of the dead), 235 

well said (= well done), 

258 
well studied, 238 
well-favouredly, 201, 209 
wench, 232 

wharfs (= banks), 232 
what poor an, 275 
what they undid did, 231 
where (= whereas), 201 
which (=who), 253, 265 
whiles, 226 
who (=whom), 247 
whole (= sound), 260 
wild (world), 277 
windowed, 265 
windows (= eyelids), 277 
wish (=pray), 218 
with (= by), 250 
woo't, 257, 267 
words (= flatters), 275 
worky-day, 215 
worm (= snake), 276 
worser, 236 
wot'st, 224 

wounded chance, 251 
wrestle (spelling) , 245 
wretch, 277 
wrong led, 248 

yarage, 197 

yare, 249, 256, 276 

yarely, 232 

yet (transposed), 227, 

262 
yield (= reward), 257 
yond, 250 

your (colloquial), 240 
your considerate stone, 

229 



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